Someday
by runawaygoddess
Summary: "Eh, he'll get over it. I mean, come one, he's as fucked up as the rest of us." But they don't let it get to them because Someday they're all going to be Somebody.
1. Soul Mates and Arch Enemies

**disclaimer:** Not my characters

**notes:** needed to get something out.

_**Someday**_

* * *

Someday she was going to be something big. That was what she promised herself before the car accident. That was what she had chanted every morning before she left for school and every night before she went to bed. She used to think that Someday was going to be The Day. Now she just had to survive through Another Day. Another Day in a house that wasn't hers. Another Day with a family that wasn't really her family, bloodlines be damned.

She rolled onto her side and stared at the red numbers glowing on her alarm clock. 6:45 on just Another Day. She kicked her blankets off and tugged her fleecy bathrobe off the foot of the bed and wrapped herself in it. She slid her feet into her fuzzy slippers and sat on the edge of the bed until the rest of the winter cold chased the sleep away. Then she reached out one pale hand with perfectly manicured fingernails and pushed the family photo on her night table face down.

She sighed and shuffled across the cold wood floors to the en suite bathroom and turned the shower on. She cranked the hot water in the dark and slowly slid the dimmer switch to a soft candle-like glow. She hung her robe on the back of the door and dropped her boxers and her underwear and her tank top on the floor under it. Before she got in the shower she grabbed her loofah and looked in the mirror at herself. The tattoo that climbed up her back on the left side curved over her left shoulder and bloomed into a pair of tiny white lilies just inside the hollow of her collarbone. She looked at the tiny character for infinity she had tattooed on her ribcage and then she yanked the shower door open and closed it, immersing herself in the hot water and the steam. She let the heat seep into her skin, fortifying her for just Another Day in a city that wasn't hers.

* * *

"What's she doing up there?" Sasuke asked Itachi. His older brother, who was currently trying to get the coffee maker unjammed, shrugged.

"She's a girl, Sasuke," he said. "I'm sure her process is much more complicated than ours."

Sasuke snorted. This was coming from the guy who had a ponytail. "Sure, whatever."

"Just try to remember your tact when she comes down, all right? She already doesn't like it here, let's not give her a reason to hate it," Itachi stood up and dusted his hands off. "That should do it."

Sasuke watched him trying to brew a mug of coffee as he thought about what he'd just heard. Sure, they had never actually met her before, but Karin Lin was their cousin. And her parents were just killed in a fiery car crash a month ago. So she had moved out of Oto and into their house in Konoha. Sasuke knew how she felt because his parents had been killed in a home invasion when he was eight. Itachi had taken him to the movies as a reward for passing his first ever science test and their parents had been looking forward to a night quiet night at home. He often wondered what their last moments were like, but he had stopping thinking about it quite so often now that he was in his mid-twenties.

"Morning," Karin said as she walked into the kitchen. Sasuke looked at her and nodded. Itachi almost smiled at her and handed her a hot mug of coffee.

"How are your classes at the university so far?" Itachi asked, just because Sasuke had made it clear he wasn't going to be social. Sasuke crossed his arms and flipped the page of the newspaper that was lying on the marble island in front of him.

"They're good. I met this guy there. He's got a dog," Karin sipped her coffee. She grimaced when she swallowed and reached for the sugar. "We should get a dog," she said vaguely.

Sasuke caught Itachi's eye and shook his head slightly. There was no way they were letting one of those flea bitten animals into their house. Just no way.

"What have you got on the schedule for today, you two?" Itachi changed the subject. Sasuke glared at him when he realized he was also expected to answer.

"I have Comm 101 and Poetry today. God knows why I took Poetry over Fiction but for some reason I did," Karin rolled her red eyes and put her mug down.

"I have to talk to my advisor about my thesis. I can give you a ride in if you want," Sasuke said. He looked at Karin with is eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, cool. What's your thesis on?" she asked. He thought she sounded like she didn't really give a shit.

"I'm proposing a new approach to the mess that the International Monetary Fund made in the developing nations," Sasuke said. "You can be ready to leave in twenty minutes?"

"Twenty-five," Karin said, getting up from her stool at the island and leaving the kitchen.

* * *

After the painfully silent car ride Karin hopped out and headed for the lecture hall ten minutes early. She would get a decent seat this time. Last time she was stuck next to the guy who slept through class and breathed through his mouth. She seriously hated poetry. If it weren't for the fact that her prof was hilarious and extremely nice she wouldn't go at all.

She pushed open the doors and walked down the steps until she spotted an empty seat next to a girl wearing a bright red and magenta toque. The girl had her computer open and was surfing a social networking sight. Next to her a blonde with an I-Dream-of-Genie ponytail was chatting away on her bedazzled smartphone. She took a deep breath and walked over to the seat.

"Hi, excuse me, is this seat taken?" she asked.

"Hmm?" the girl in the toque looked up and smiled. Her eyes were shockingly green. "Oh no. Go ahead."

"Thanks," Karin said and sat down. People were starting to trickle in to the lecture hall. Karin wondered if she should introduce herself or something.

"I'm Sakura, by the way," toque girl said. "That's Ino," she gestured at the blonde.

"Karin," she introduced herself and managed a smile. Sakura grinned and tucked a strand of flyaway hair back under her toque. It was pink. Karin wondered what kind of dye she used to get colour that pale.

"Oh. My. God. I love your shoes!" Ino had hung up her phone and was leaning over Sakura, practically salivating over Karin's stylish black leather snow boots with red laces and white fleece on the insides.

"Ino, meet Karin. Do you want to switch places with me so you can gush over she shoes without suffocating me?" Sakura asked her friend.

"Oh, haha, yeah ok," Ino got up and Sakura shut her computer and climbed over into the seat her friend used to occupy. "I'm Ino, the most fabulous person you're ever going to meet. Sakura's boring. She wants to be a doctor. I'm going to be a TV news anchor one day."

"Ouch, Ino. That's harsh. I'm going to be the doctor that saves you from Botox one of these days you know. Don't sass me," Sakura said, popping her laptop open again.

"Botox? Moi? Never!" Ino cried, scandalized. Karin covered her smiled with her hand. She thought that she might have just found her Soul Mate in Ino.

"Hey, Karin," Sakura said. "What time is your break? If it's the same time as ours you should totally get lunch with us."

And Sakura might just be her Better Self.

* * *

Naruto was sitting on the floor next to the vending machine waiting for the Teme to get the hell out of his meeting with Kakashi. It was taking forever and he had already spent all his spare change on snacks so he had nothing to do except send blank texts to the Teme while he was in his meeting. He was on his eighth blank when he got a real text. From Sakura.

Sakura was practically his sister. Except she was way cooler because while she did live in his apartment, she didn't whine about how annoying his music and his video games were. She was also amazingly chill.

**SakAttack:** _Hey, wanna meet us for lunch? We met a girl in class and she's got the same break. MAKE FRIENDS WITH HER!_

**NaruToeFace:** _NEW FRIEND?! I AM SO THERE! Where is there exactly?_

**SakAttack:** _HAHAHAHAHAHA the Courtyard you DOOF! Bring that boring angst-ridden guy you hang out with all the time. He looks like he needs an INOGASM to get him out of his lifetime slump._

**SakAttack:** _Shit, sorry. Fucking Ino man. Ignore that last bit. She grabbed my phone when I decided to take notes._

**NaruToeFace:** _Hahaha, no worries. I got it. I also kind of agree with her. Teme needs to loosen up. Seriously. I'll bring him when he gets out of his meeting with Kakashi._

**SakAttack:** _Kaaaaaaaay. We'll be at our usual table by the window. With Hinata and Tenten. And possibly Hinata's weird cousin who only talks in proper English. With a capital E, bitch._

**NaruToeFace:** _Hinata is going to be there?_

**SakAttack:** _Yeah…she's there pretty much everyday. What, do you want me to un-invite her?_

**NaruToeFace:** _NO! That's mean. I was just asking. Yeesh._

**SakAttack:** _Mmmkaay. See you there._

Naruto flopped back against the wall and stared at the closed door for a while longer. Then he got bored and resumed his spam texting to the Teme. Only this time (because they had iPhones) he sent him WHALES.

* * *

Karin was sitting at the table in the small café alone. Sakura and Ino had nipped off to the washroom, leaving her to guard their bags. She was thinking about how weird it was that this café was called The Courtyard. It was all indoor. There was just a giant tree growing in the middle of the floor, bursting out of the roof. But other than that it was covered and heated. She shrugged and pulled out her phone, planning on telling Sasuke about the tree when some jerk walked by.

"Who died?" he called at her as he walked past with a ginger giant. Now, Karin was usually pretty laid back about people making fun of her clothes. She usually chalked it up to them being ferociously jealous of her stellar sense of style. But not this time. No one was going to make fun of her all black ensemble, that she was wearing out of respect, today. No fucking way.

Karin snapped her head up and glared at him through her glasses. He started laughing at her until she slammed her phone down on the table and snapped back at him.

"Your mom," she growled back. He stopped laughing abruptly.

"Bitch," he bared his teeth at her. One of his canines was slightly hooked. He had white hair, which was weird for a guy his age (he wasn't exactly old), and his violet eyes were narrow slits. The giant ginger guy he was with grabbed his arm and pulled him back a bit.

"Go fuck a donkey," Karin said sharply. She picked up her phone and ignored him as he stood fuming near by. There was something oddly satisfying about the hot fizzing feeling of anger that was crackling under her skin right now. And she could only seem to bring her self to care about one thing right then and there: the anger burned everything else away; the pain and the emptiness and the hate. It felt good.

* * *

"I swear to God, Dobe. If you send me one more goddamn whale I will fucking murder you," Sasuke said. Naruto grinned like a dumbass next to him, which only made him want to punch him in the face. The whole time he had been in a meeting with his thesis advisor, Kakashi, Naruto had entertained himself by sending him blank and whale texts. And now Sasuke was ready to kill him.

"Whatever, Teme. Come on, we have to go to the Courtyard. It's time for lunch!" Naruto shoved him roughly in the right direction. Sasuke stumbled into the wall. In retaliation he cut Naruto's cackle short by shoving him into the open doorway of the ladies room.

"Dude," Naruto staggered out looking horrified. "Not cool!"

"You started it," he pointed out. "I thought we were going to go to that ramen place you love for lunch…again."

"Sakura wants to meet up so we're going to the courtyard. She said that her and Ino met someone new in class and their all having lunch. She wanted my friendly presence there too make things more fun," Naruto explained.

Now Sasuke was mildly interested. He had never met the mysterious Sakura, but from what he had heard from Naruto the girl was Wonder Woman except shorter and she wore more clothing. He was inclined to believe that this picture of Naruto's famous roommate was over exaggerated, in the extreme.

"You finally get to meet her!" Naruto said, grinning. "Awesome! My two best friends are gonna be best friends!"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Sasuke muttered to himself.

"Trust me," Naruto rambled on. "You are gonna lover her! You two have so much in common! Hey, do you think we should invite Suigetsu to lunch? He did have that whole huge fight with his Oto friends a few days ago you know. I think I'll call him. And Kiba and Neji. "

"Yeah, call them all," Sasuke said sarcastically. "The more the merrier."

"Wow, Teme, that's cheerful of you. You feeling ok?" Naruto laughed at his own joke and then proceeded to ignore the sarcasm and called EVERYONE he knew.

"Yeah," Sasuke sighed, "I'm fine."

* * *

**extras:**_ so what's up! I can't actually decide if this is going to be a KaSui story or a SasuSaku story at this point…SO WHATEVER! I'LL JUST WRITE WHATEVER I FEEL LIKE! FUCK MIDTERMS GUYS! No, but seriously, don't fuck midterms. Ace midterms so you can pass the course. OMG I'M PANICKING SO MUCH! And I'm super excited for all my fav fall tv shows to be back. Also I need to get a job._

_**ANYWAY:**__ follow me on twitter for more frequent updates/q&a/pretty much everything else. **( )**__**goddessrunaway**__! _

**_I MISSED YOU GUYS SO MUCH!_**


	2. Happy

**disclaimer:** I don't own any of these characters

**notes:** So I fucked up my midterms…but the Hangover is fucking hilarious.

Also, follow my twitter ** goddessrunaway**…or at least tell me if you check it (if you don't have twitter or you can't be bothered to follow) because then I will keep updating it with writing progress, etc.

_**Someday**_

* * *

He didn't sleep that night. He didn't usually sleep at night anymore. He could never sleep at night. The darkness and the quiet made him remember things he didn't want to think about ever again. So instead of sleeping he would curl up in the corner of the bed and sit and watch the night go by. Sometimes he would go outside and walk around and think about What Would Have Been. He thought about what Someday would have been like if she had gotten better a lot. A lot of the time he went to the 24-hour convenience store and picked up a couple packs of smokes and a case of beer. And then he would go down to the docks and get blasted.

So that was his plan last night, and now he felt like shit but he had a meeting with his advisor. And he had to finish his transfer into medical/criminal law. So he was trekking to school to do that shit, get lunch and go home and sleep it off. But only after he had a hot shower and downed about four extra strength painkillers. Only after that was he able to leave and go to school…slowly. He knew that if he moved too quickly he was probably going vomit nicotine and Crown Royal.

"You look like shit," Kiba was the first person he saw that morning. He was sitting at the end of the hall with all his animal anatomy textbooks open. He was highlighting almost every paragraph and circling parts and words and pictures. Suigetsu sat down across from him for a moment.

"Shut the fuck up," he said rudely. He didn't give a fuck though, because he was hungover, tired, and permanently fucked up.

"Just saying that maybe getting bombed isn't the best idea when you have a meeting in the morning."

"Azuma gets it," Suigetsu said. He wanted to shrug, but he felt like if he moved that his stomach would flip over and he would end up like that dog from that movie that chicks always cried over.

"Yeah, he's pretty chill," Kiba nodded. He flipped a page and rotated his neck back. He let his head flop back and he stared at the ceiling until his neck started to ache. "You doing your transfer today?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting for Juugo to show up. He's the only reliable bastard out of my old crew. A little too loyal to some of those fucks though," Suigetsu cracked his knuckles.

"I thought you were getting out of that?" Kiba said.

"Yeah, I'm out of it. I keep in touch with my boy, but that's all," he said. "I swear. Anyway, I got a meeting. Later man."

Suigetsu left Kiba frowning at his page and walked down the empty halls to Asuma's office. He saw Shikamaru walking out, taking a cigarette out of his pocket.

"Hey man," he said. "I'd wait a few if I were you, unless you don't mind him smoking while you talk."

Suigetsu shrugged and opened the door. "I don't."

* * *

_It was dark._

_It wasn't usually this dark in his house. He didn't know why it was so dark. It was only ten o'clock after all. Usually there were still some lights on in the house. He slipped his shoes off at the door and started walking down the hall._

_It was utterly silent._

_He noticed that the door to the living room was closed. He frowned. No lights were shining from under the door. He paused a few steps from the door, wiggling his toes against the thick carpet. It felt different under his feet tonight. It felt…sticky? No, that wasn't the right word. It felt…heavy. Yes, heavy. He reached out and turned the doorknob._

_The door swung open._

_The room was dark, so he felt along the wall for the light switch. When he found it his fingers slipped on it for a moment. There was something wet on the wall, making it hard for his fingers to find a purchase on the switch. He finally flipped it and looked up._

_The room was empty and totally silent._

_Except for the whispers._

_Sasuke. Sasuke. Help us. Sasuke, help!_

_He took a few steps forward, around the edge of the couch. And then he saw them._

_They were drenched in blood, limbs half severed off, dragging themselves across the floor toward him, staring at him with half-gouged, bloody eyes._

_She smiled at him and blood seeped in between her teeth._

_Sasuke, come here to your Mommy. She said. Mommy wants to give you a hug._

_Her bloody hand wrapped around his ankle, freezing cold and heavy._

_He screamed._

* * *

And then he jerked awake, gasping, flailing and biting his tongue so he wouldn't start screaming for real.

Sasuke shoved his blankets off and pulled his knees up to his chest. He could feel his heart beating hard in his chest, trying to batter its way through his ribs. He took deep breaths and wiped his face off with his hands. He could feel his whole body shaking. He couldn't do anything to stop the helpless tears that were dripping down his face.

He rubbed his arms and threw his shirt off. He was drenched in sweat. He always was after that nightmare. And it was always the same goddamn one every time. It didn't come every night, and it got worse every time he had it. This was the first time his dead mother had touched him.

"Fuck," he whispered to himself, pressing his face against his knees to stop the hot tears from seeping out. "Fuck," he whispered again. He was still shaking uncontrollably. He rubbed his face again and fumbled for his phone. He managed to get to the contacts list with his shaking hands, but now that he was there he couldn't think of anyone to call. He put the phone down, trying not to clatter it against the night table.

He leaned up against the headboard of his bed. He hated these nights. His head hurt, his body hurt, his soul hurt. But he could never forget them, no matter what he did. He hadn't stopped trying, but he couldn't make those nightmares leave his head. They had their hooks in him now and they weren't letting go.

He looked at the clock. 3:00 AM. He had a meeting in the morning with Kakashi. There was no way he was going to get anymore sleep. The shaking had started to calm down so he got out of bed and got a new shirt out of his closet. Then he turned on his desk light to chase away the dark and got out this thesis paper. He might as well do something to kill the next five hours before he had to meet Naruto for class.

* * *

Naruto was so excited for his lifelong best friend/roommate/drinking buddy to meet his other lifelong best friend/drinking buddy/gaming nemesis. He was excited because he knew there was no way that they were not going to get along. They had to get along. Because Sakura was so lively and optimistic and personable and the Teme was such an anti-social freak. Obviously they were made for each other. So, in accordance with his conversation with Ino (the other roommate/friend/relationship guru) the night before, they were going to be introduced…finally.

"So where is this mysterious Sasuke then?" Sakura asked, sitting down with her lunch on a tray. Naruto looked at her food. A ham and goat cheese Panini, water and some desert muffin thing that didn't look delicious at all. Of course all of it was chock full of healthy stuff. Naruto sniffed delicately and pulled out his thermos of hot water and his cup ramen. "Where the hell did you get that? I thought I threw all those out!" Sakura protested.

"Yeah, you did. I just went back to Costco and bought another pack. I hide it where you'll never find it," Naruto said. "And Sasuke's getting his lunch. He's they guy over there."

"Well, that's helpful," Sakura said, glancing over her shoulder. "There are about eight guys in the line at the cash, four in the line by the salad bar and about ten in the line for everything else. Want to narrow it down for me?"

"I can't! Otherwise it won't be a surprise!"

"Oh, and we wouldn't want that now, would we," Sakura said sarcastically, taking a bite of her Panini. "Oww, hot, hot!"

"Here," Naruto unscrewed her water bottle and handed it to her. "And don't sass me with your sarcasm, child."

"Child? I learned to drive before you did!" Sakura protested.

"Yeah, but I'm taller than you, so I win. Hey, Teme," Naruto said. Sakura adjusted her toque as Sasuke sat down and nodded.

"Sasuke," Karin said abruptly.

"Hey," he mumbled.

"You guys know each other?" Naruto looked back and forth between them very quickly.

"Yeah," Karin said. "We're cousins."

* * *

_Well this is new information,_ Sakura thought. She looked at Karin closely and then at Sasuke, who seemed to be avoiding the eye of everyone at the table. She supposed there was a very vague family resemblance. The general hotness of both of them, for example. Sakura frowned and looked down at her food.

_Stop being ridiculous,_ she told herself. _You can't seriously be taking a dislike to this guy, who you've just met, because he's hot. That's stupid and petty and vapid and totally something INO would do. Snap out of it!_

So she looked up and attempted a smile. From the blank look on his face there was no way to tell if she succeeded or not, so she shrugged and went back to her Panini.

"So, Sasuke," Ino said, leaning over the table. "Tell us all about yourself."

Sakura glanced at her friend and frowned at the amount of cleavage she was showing. But she shrugged it off because it was Ino and that was how she was. She took another bite out of her Panini as she watched Sasuke glower at Ino. Wow, this guy was cranky.

Ino continued bugging him about anything she could think of, even Sakura switch places with her so that she could pelt questions across a shorter distance of table. Sakura wiped her hands off on her napkin and tossed it on her empty plate. She casually snacked on fries off Naruto's plate as she listened to Ino asked Sasuke question. She leaned her elbow against the table and rested her head against her hand, absently gazing at the perfect lines of his face. He was really beautiful. It was almost like someone had carved him out of marble and then breathed life into him. He was even beautiful with his tired eyes. She sighed. He looked away from Ino and at her. Their eyes locked for a split second. Sakura felt her face heat up and she blinked and whipped her head away. She looked down at her plate and shoved it over to Naruto.

"Here," she mumbled. "I'm not hungry."

Then she shoved her chair back, grabbed her bag and bolted from the Courtyard. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and her hands were shaking. She was best friends with Ino, she didn't get embarrassed by anything. Except just making eye contact with this guy had her blushing like a schoolgirl. She was so flustered she walked into Suigetsu, who was storming around with Juugo, looking like he was going to kill someone.

"Sorry," she mumbled as he snapped at her to watch it.

What was wrong with her?

* * *

When Sasuke sat down he was immediately was accosted by the female version of Naruto. She began pelting him with questions about himself. Did he have any siblings? Does he drive and if so what kind of car? How tall his he? How old is he? Does he have a girlfriend? If he had the chance, what celebrity woman would he date? Unless of course he was gay in which case which celebrity man?

Sasuke stared blankly at her and kind of grunted in response to some of her questions. Naruto was grinning at him, like an idiot, as this Ino chick asked him every question imaginable. Even Karin looked like she was enjoying this. He shot her a nasty glare and then looked past her and met a pair of big, bright green eyes. He blinked and she blushed and looked away. Her cheeks tinged pink and she shoved her plate sideways at Naruto, mumbling that she wasn't hungry. Then she shoved her chair back, almost knocking it over, and bolted from the Courtyard.

Now he was sitting at his kitchen, staring at his notebook, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. He had wasted three hours in the library, using his art skills (acquired in high school) to sketch the face of the girl from the Courtyard. Sakura, he had scribbled on his paper. Then he ripped out all the pages out of his notebook and shredded them into long strips. Then he ripped the strips into tiny squares and threw them in the garbage. On his way home he nearly crashed his car twice because he thought he saw her walking along. And now he was sitting at his table, sketching her again, in the top corner of his page. He scrawled her name underneath the face he had drawn and then tore the page out and crumpled it up. Then he tossed it in the garbage bin. A second later he shot out of his chair and dug it out and smoothed it flat. Then he went up to his bedroom and stuck it between the pages of a random book on his shelf and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Jesus Christ," he whispered. His heart was hammering in his chest. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

* * *

**extras:** _aaaannnnd we're done! That's chapter 2 guys! Just a quick word, I think I may have bombed my midterm. Also, don't be expecting a speedy update, as I have four papers due in the next month and I have to really crack down on that shit before I fail out of uni (which would suck because I have paid for it)._

**Twitter: goddessrunaway**

**iseesavage dot livejournal dot com**

**HIT ME UP GUYS! : )**

**TO MY REVIEWERS (all three of you):**

**Lady Miel Cacao:** _No, no, please, continue : ) love the compliments! Hahaha thanks for reading the first chapter! Hope I don't disappoint!_

**Nuria Sato:** _hey hey! So I updated. Did you like the 'meeting' scene? Haha I think it's gonna be a bit time skippy in each chapter, so don't get confused in the next one if it starts like three months later that this was is...my mind works in mysterious ways. Thanks for the awesome review!_

**wingedmercury:** _awe dude, your review (from a familiar penname) just went straight to m feels and now I'm all warm and fuzzy on the inside. Of course there will be fails, it's not dramatic without them! So look forward to some extreme stupidity on everyone's part in which only Itachi will come out with his hair intact. Because he's amazing, obvs. SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER!_


	3. Twisted Little Lives

**disclaimer:** I don't own the characters. But I want to own the New York skyline…

**notes:** third chapter whaaat? Ok, so now I'm really slacking off with my paper now. STOPIT!

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: goddessrunaway (please? You'd make me super happy…)

_**Someday**_

* * *

Someday (and she had thought about this a lot), she was going to be a doctor. It had been pretty much decided when she was a kid. She knew that Someday she was going to walk into a hospital and save lives. But Someday had never felt further away that it did today.

Because today was the day that she had to hold it all together and pretend like nothing was wrong. Today was the day she didn't look Ino or Naruto in the eye because she didn't want to see the pity there. Today was the day of the Great Betrayal.

Sakura didn't keep any photos of her parents around the apartment. Nor did she keep any in her wallet or on her walls. The only family photo she had was of her and her aunt, sitting on a park bench, smiling in the sunshine. You could kind of see Naruto in the blurred background of the photo, running towards them. Sakura remembered when Jiraiya took that photo, three days before the Great Betrayal. Her parents were at work so her aunty took her out to the park with their next-door neighbours.

So today she got up three hours earlier than usual and left the house for school. She walked all the way down town and it took her almost two hours but she got there and bought her breakfast out of a street-cart. Then she sat on a bench in the cold, grey morning and at the hot bagel breakfast sandwich. The Earl Grey tea burned her tongue, hot and sweet as it went down. She was sitting there until the clouds overhead got bright and the wet road shone dimly. Then she kicked her feet up and walked four more blocks to campus, where she could disappear into the heavily wooded trees and the high-roofed brick buildings and not think about how much today was going to suck.

* * *

Karin thought it was odd for Sakura to be at class without Ino. But then again she was just sitting on one of the soft benches outside, nose buried in the latest reading. She was chewing on the end of her highlighter, crinkling her nose up as she read. Karin tossed her backpack on the floor and sat down next to her.

"Hey," she said, tugging a book out. She didn't really expect an answer. She had gotten used to Sakura being so absorbed in her schoolwork that she became completely oblivious to the outside world. She thought the silence and the company was nice. There was less pressure to think of things to say this way and right now, on just Another bland Day, Karin appreciated the effortless simplicity.

Sakura slammed her textbook closed with a loud huff and capped her highlighter. She was muttering under her breath as she stuffed the items back in her bag and flopped back against the wall.

"I hate today," Sakura said. Karin leaned back against the wall with her and nodded her agreement. "It fucking sucks."

"Can I ask why?" Karin inquired, fanning out the pages of her book.

"Sure," Sakura shrugged.

"Why does today suck?"

"Because today is the worst day of my life," Sakura said. Karin looked at her sideways. She was bitter and angry. "But don't tell Ino and Naruto I said that."

"Don't worry," Karin said. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Can I tell you something?" Karin asked.

"Yeah, sure," Sakura nodded.

"Well I'm living with Sasuke and his brother. Not for school or anything. I'm living there because my parents died in a car accident and they are my closest living relatives. I had never met them before the funeral. And now I fucking live with them."

"Wow," Sakura said. "That's got to be weird." Karin nodded. "I'm sorry about your parents."

"Thanks. Sakura?" Karin said. "Do you know who that older guy with the white hair is? He's like closer to Naruto's age."

"Oh yeah! That's Suigetsu. I know he's friends with Naruto sort of. I heard he moved here from Oto when he was a kid to live with his uncle. After his mom died anyway."

"Oh my god, that's why he looks like he wants to kill me every time he sees me!" Karin gasped. "I was wearing all black and he made a really mean joke and asked me who died and I said 'your mom' to him! Oh my god I feel terrible now!"

"Eh, he'll get over it. I mean, come on, he's a fucked up as the rest of us," Sakura shrugged. "It might take him a while though. He's very confrontational."

"Then I guess I'll just have to be confrontational right back. It feels good to just…have someone to fight with, you know?"

"No, I don't really know. That's a bit twisted, man."

* * *

Sasuke didn't go to school today. He stayed at home and as soon as Itachi left for work he rummaged out his best bottle of vodka and grabbed a pack of cigarettes. Then he tossed them in the passenger seat of his car and called Kiba up.

They met up at the beach, completely deserted and completely frigid. Sasuke unscrewed the top of the vodka bottle and chugged some. Then he lit up.

"Is this even legal man?" Kiba asked, tossing back some whiskey straight from the bottle and lighting himself a cigarette as well.

"Who gives a fuck?" Sasuke asked.

"Dude, you are fucked up," Kiba said. He rubbed his hand across the tattoos on the backs of his hands.

"So are you, or you wouldn't be here," Sasuke shot back. He slammed back some more vodka and settled back in the cold sand against the driftwood log.

Kiba didn't say anything. Sasuke rested the vodka bottle against the inside on one thigh and looked out across the black water of the ocean. Why was he here, getting drunk and getting lung cancer? What was the point of all this?

Oh, right. The point was that he wasn't feeling anything right now, except the smoke burning his lungs and the alcohol burning his throat. And it felt good to not feel. Because Kiba was right. He was fucked up. They all were. And he didn't want to wake up from nightmares of his parent's dead bodies calling his name tonight. He just wanted to sleep through the fucking night and wake up too hungover to think.

* * *

Itachi was having a hard time figuring out what had him so down lately. _Maybe, _he thought_, it was having Karin around. _But he doubted it. Karin was in her own personal grief bubble and she had been for the past two months. She was very careful to tuck that away whenever she was outside the privacy of her bedroom. He also had gotten a call from his old school friend, Kisame, asking if he had seen Suigetsu around his house hanging around with Sasuke. He had answered a truthful negative. Suigetsu, who had never become a regular fixture in their house, had not come around for almost a year. Itachi frowned at the paperwork splayed across his desk. He had not wanted to come into work today, but he couldn't call in sick. He was the boss, who would he call to report his absence to? And besides, he had to attend a very important board meeting that afternoon. He checked the clock. Another fifteen minutes until the meeting and the paperwork was definitely not going to be done by then. The only thing that meant was that he got to take his work home with him…again. Itachi fought off the urge to drop his face into the desk in exhausted frustration. He felt like that would be too obviously admitting defeat. Instead he pulled out his cell phone and called Sasuke, just to get him out of bed. When unsupervised, Sasuke sometimes had the habit of sleeping through his alarm. He tapped the desk impatiently as the phone rang. It went to voicemail and Itachi sat at his desk, listening to the curt message Sasuke left for anyone who was unfortunate enough to hear it. He sighed and hung up. Then he tried again. He repeated the process three more times, hanging up before he had to listen to the emotionless message again. He threw the phone down on the desk and gathered up his notes for the meeting. Then he got up, leaving his phone on his desk, and left his secluded office.

When Itachi got back from his meeting he immediately checked his cell phone. There were no answers from Sasuke. He frowned and called him again. Finally he picked up the phone.

"What the fuck do you keep calling me for?" Sasuke growled into the phone. Itachi thought he could hear waves in the background.

"Is that the ocean? Are you at the beach, Sasuke?" Itachi snapped. He wasn't an idiot. He knew what happened at the beach in winter. Sasuke was either shooting up with some friends or getting smashed with some friends. And he did not like either of those ideas one bit. "How much have you had to drink?"

"What the hell do you care?" Sasuke snapped. _The whole bottle then_, Itachi thought.

"What beach are you at? I'll come get you," Itachi grabbed his coat off the back of his chair.

"I don't need you to come get me," Sasuke growled. "I'm not a kid, anymore. I can take care of myself." Then the line went dead.

"Shit," Itachi muttered, leaning against the desk. He pressed the cold, smooth surface of his phone to his forehead and closed his eyes. He was slipping.

* * *

"Karin," Ino said. "Your house is massive!"

Karin smirked at her and Sakura. "Yeah," she shrugged and unlocked the door. Sasuke's car was parked crookedly in the driveway. "Sasuke," she called. "You home?"

There was utter silence as her voice echoed through the house. She frowned.

"Are you worried?" Sakura asked.

"A bit. He didn't go to school this morning, but his car was parked properly when I left," Karin said. "I'm just gonna go look in his room. Maybe he's got music in or something."

Karin left the girls in the hall, pointing them to the kitchen and telling them to help themselves to something if they were hungry. She left her shoes by the door, padding lightly down the hall in her sock-feet. She knocked on Sasuke's door and pushed it open without waiting for an answer. Sasuke was lying face up on his bed, passed out and reeking of cigarette smoke and alcohol. She rolled her eyes but walked over and pulled his shoes off. She didn't bother with his jacket, but she grabbed a blanket off the window seat and spread it over him gently. She spied an empty bottle of vodka on the floor and picked it up. She shook her head as she left, closing the door quietly.

Karin hid the bottle behind her back and managed to slip it into the recycling bin in the corner of the kitchen when Ino wasn't looking. Sakura raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't comment. Karin shrugged at her and washed her hands.

"You guys want to stay for dinner? I think it'll stop Itachi from hovering if he sees I've made progress in the social department," Karin said.

"Sure," Sakura said. "What are you cooking?"

"No idea. Itachi usually does that," Karin said, hopping up on the marble top island.

"We could make dinner, you know, to surprise him?" Ino said. "It might be nice for him for once, you know?"

"Yeah," Karin nodded. "I think that's a good idea."

"You guys get started," Sakura got out of her chair. "I'm just going to call Naruto and tell him he's on his own this evening."

"Invite him," Karin said spontaneously. "He might make Sasuke fun to be around for once."

"Kay," Sakura said.

* * *

When Itachi arrived home there was he was assaulted by an unexpected wave of noise. He kicked his shoes of, toeing them up against the wall and cringed when he heard the loud cackle of Naruto. He hung his coat and briefcase on a hook in the hall and went into the kitchen. Karin was sitting at the island, pushing an empty colander of unwashed beans back and forth with Sasuke. Well it was more like Karin was trying to get him to wash the beans so she wouldn't have to and he was shoving them back at her with ever increasing irritation. Two girls he didn't know were shoving Naruto out of the way, bustling around the stove. The blonde one was shouting at Naruto to stop burning the rice and the pink haired one (which made Itachi raise an eyebrow because, who has pink hair?) was tossing some garlic in a pan.

"Ino, stop shouting. Naruto, just put the rice in a dish and Karin, can you just wash the damn beans?"

"You wash them, Sak," Karin said. "This was your idea."

"No it wasn't," the girl with the pink hair said. "It was Ino's."

"Then make her wash them," Karin whined.

"No," the girl with pink hair said. "Ino cut up the peppers and washed the rice. It's your turn to contribute."

"What exactly will Karin be contributing to?" Itachi asked from the door.

"Dinner," Karin said promptly. The rest of them froze and, for some reason, looked mildly guilty. Sasuke raised his head off his arms and glared. He made a noise of disgust in the back of his throat. Without looking at Itachi he got up and opened up the Booze Cabinet (as Naruto had dubbed it) and grabbed a fresh bottle. Then he stalked out of the kitchen. Itachi heard the patio door slam. He managed not to flinch, and looked around at the remaining people in the kitchen.

"Hi," the girl with pink hair extended her hand to him. "I'm Sakura. This is Ino. We're friends of Karin's."

"Ah," Itachi said. He shook her hand. She had a surprisingly strong grip for such a petite girl. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Sasuke's older brother, Itachi."

"Uh, I'm a bit warm," Sakura said, to no one in general. She stepped back from Itachi and fished some things out of her purse. "I'm just gonna grab some fresh air outside. You guys can survive without me for a minute?"

She didn't wait for an answer, she just followed Sasuke's path out to the deck. She shut the door quietly as Itachi sank into a chair at the island.

"So you're making dinner?" he said. There was an oddly high amount of tension in the room, he noted, as Ino and Naruto exchanged looks and glanced in the direction Sakura disappeared too.

* * *

Sakura stepped out into the chilly winter air and tugged her sleeves down over her hands. She wished she had snuck her gloves out of her purse as well. Sasuke looked up when she shut the door. He offered up a nasty glare and took a swig from the bottle of whiskey. He was leaning against the railing of the deck, staring out at the street, bathed in a yellow-orange glow from the street lamps. Sakura took a deep breath and fumbled a cigarette out of the pack she had hidden in her purse. She stuck the rest in her back pocket and stepped up to the railing next to Sasuke. She flicked the lighter and watched the small flame leap up to the tip of the cigarette, making the end glow red as she inhaled. She stuck the lighter in her back pocket with the pack and blew the smoke out through her lips, watching it vanish into the night sky. Belatedly she remembered that some people didn't smoke.

"You don't mind, do you?" she asked Sasuke. He shrugged and took a long chug of whiskey. "That's going to give you liver disease," she commented dryly, taking another drag.

"Oh so drinking is bad but lung cancer is ok?" Sasuke asked sarcastically.

"Did you want one?" Sakura offered him the cigarette. Sasuke considered her a moment and then plucked it out of her fingers. He took a long drag and passed it back. Sakura twisted the whiskey bottle out of his grip and slammed some back. She gasped as it burned her throat and sat down on one of the cold plastic deck chairs.

"Not much of a drinker?" he asked, sitting as well.

"No, I drink. I just don't usually mix drinking and smoking," Sakura stretched her legs out and wiggled her feet inside her socks. Her toes were cold. She took another drag.

"I mix them all the time," Sasuke said.

"Yeah," Sakura snorted. "And look how normal you turned out." Sasuke looked at her, barely managing a glare because she had caught him so off guard with that statement. "Sorry," she muttered. "Today isn't the best day for me."

"Why?" Sasuke asked. Sakura shook her head and reached for the whiskey. She tossed the lighter and cigarette pack on the tiny table between their chairs.

"Uh uh dude, I need to be a lot more drunk before I even think about going there."

She slammed back the whiskey again, then rolled her head back to look at the stars. She briefly considered what kind of impression she was making on Sasuke and wondered what would happen if Naruto and Ino came looking for her. Then she thought, _fuck it_, and took another drink.

* * *

**extras:** _so that's chapter three. I think the transition between the kitchen and balcony scene is kind of awkward…but I had the idea for the balcony and I didn't really want to get into too much detail with it. Plus, school, so get over it._

**REVIEWERS!**

**Lady Miel Caocao:** _don't you wish love at first sight wasn't just in stories? I know I do._

**Girlalicious:** _YEAH MAN! I love putting cute stuff in with the heart wrenching angst. And trust me, there will be much angst. _

**Maidnestear:** _why, yes, it is quite a phenomenon. I can't take all the credit though. I read this one really good story called 'sincerely, but never yours' by Alive in Wonderland, and Karin was nice(er) in it and I really like it. So I copied…borrowed…? Whatever, I'm glad you like it too. Defs check that story out!_


	4. Self Destruct and Feel Better

**disclaimer: **not my characters.

**notes:** metric is coming to my city in a few weeks. I am going to the concert. It's gonna kick some serious ass. Be jealous.

_**Someday**_

* * *

He shut the door of his bedroom behind him. Downstairs he could hear the sounds of his mother, begging her latest boyfriend to forgive her. He didn't know what she had done, but he doubted that it was bad enough that she needed to beg to be forgiven. He sighed, leaning against the door, and dug his cell phone out of his pocket. He dialed his sister and listened to the ringing.

"What?" Hana asked. In the background he could hear loud music and shouting.

"Hey, how are you?" he asked.

"Why are you calling me? Didn't I say that I would be busy?" Hana asked him. He couldn't help but notice that she was less than thrilled to hear from him.

"I just wanted to see how my big sister was doing. After everything with Dad, I just wanted to make sure you were adjusting ok, since Mom is having some trouble –"

"Look," Hana cut him off. "I don't have time for this right now, ok? I'm really busy."

Kiba stared at the phone in his hand as the line went dead. Did Hana really not care? Was she so relieved that their father was behind bars and no longer a threat to her that she just checked out of their lives completely to go live her own? Kiba rested his head against the door, closing his eyes and listening to the sound of the door slamming down stairs and his mom sobbing softly in the hall way. He tossed his phone on the desk and kicked off his shoes. He hung his jacket on the back of the door and went down stairs to the front hall.

"Mom," he said softly. She turned around to look at him, her arms wrapped around her middle like she was trying to hold herself together. "You ok?"

"Honey, I don't know why I'm so stupid," she said, wiping tears off her face. "I always make him so angry," she gave a shaky laugh and walked over to him, shaking herself. "Never mind. Let's have dinner. Are you going to stay here this weekend?"

"Yeah," Kiba followed her to the kitchen. "I thought I might, if that's ok. My roommate is having his girlfriend over."

He frowned. She was much thinner than she used to be. He could see her shoulder blades sticking out sharply underneath the fabric of her t-shirt. There were faded bruises on her upper arms in the shape of hands. He grit his teeth but kept his mouth shut. He knew bringing it up wouldn't help. He would be more help at home all weekend to keep an eye on her and that asshole she insisted on dating. Although he couldn't understand how he was any better than his Dad.

"Let's make something hot tonight. You always liked spicy things."

She smiled at him and he couldn't help smiling back. As he bent over the fridge, fishing ingredients out he remembered the woman who raised him, before his Dad lost his job and started beating them all black and blue. The woman who raised him before that had been independent, strong and confident. He looked at his Mom now, turning the stove on and pulling out pots and pans. She hadn't changed and she had. And he didn't know what to do.

* * *

Ino sighed, propping her chin up against the palm of her hand. She had been sitting at this fancy restaurant for almost an hour, waiting for her mother. She hated these meetings with her mother because they were always scheduled and structured. Her mother would arrive an hour late; she would make some vague excuse about work (Ino knew she actually forgot and had to be reminded by her assistant) and then would order a lunch that she wouldn't even bother eating. After all the small talk was over with (they would ask each other about school and work without really caring about the answers) they would go their separate ways, Ino's mother back to her sugar daddy and Ino back to her apartment with Sakura, Naruto and lots of ice cream.

Ino's phone rang against the table. She picked it up. It was her mother's office. She picked it up.

"Mom, is it really that hard to pencil me into your calendar so you're not late all the time?" she asked.

"Um, Miss Yamanaka, this is Miku."

"Oh," Ino said, feeling like her blood was turning to ice in her veins. Why was her mother's assistant calling her? "What's up?"

"Your mother didn't call you to cancel I take it?" Miku sighed. "She's been in Tokyo for the last few days."

"Has she?" Ino heard herself ask from somewhere far away. "Thanks Miku."

She hung up and threw her phone in her bag. She tugged out her wallet and left a tip for the waiter and strode out of the restaurant. She could feel some sort of buzzing under her skin, an emotion she couldn't really place. She came to a stop outside a 24-hour liquor mart. She sneered at the cheap neon sign, hating the fact that she was a few months under the legal drinking age. She was about to turn away when a tall man, he looked a few years older than her, walked out, tucking a six pack of beer under his arm.

"Hey," she called to him, tossing her silky hair over her shoulder.

"Hey," he said. He looked at her warily. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah," she said, sashaying over to him. She felt a surge of vindication when he slowly dragged his eyes over her body. "If I gave you twenty bucks would you go in there and buy me something?" She produced a twenty dollar bill from her purse.

"What would I be buying you, exactly?" the guy asked. Ino stepped closer to him and slipped the twenty into his palm.

"Whatever they've got that's strongest," she said fiercely. "Please? Help a damsel in distress out?"

"Fine," the guy sighed and took her twenty back into the store with him. He emerged a few minutes later with a bottle of vodka in a brown paper bag.

"Here," he said, handing it to her. Ino took the bag and unscrewed the bottle cap. She put the bottle to her lips and tipped her head back, chugging the alcohol until she couldn't handle the burning in her throat anymore.

"Whoa, slow down there. That's got forty percent alcohol content you know," the guy said, looking rather alarmed.

"I know," Ino grinned mirthlessly at him. She spun in her high-heeled shoes and strutted off, taking another swig. She didn't even teeter on her heels, evidence of her practice of drunk walking in heels. "Keep the change," she called over her shoulder, throwing her free arm up in the air, waving good-bye.

"Hang on," the guy shouted. Ino could hear him running to catch up with her. "I can't just let you wander around drinking in the streets. That's illegal for one thing, and for another, how do you know you're not going to get raped or mugged or something?"

He was really quite cute, Ino realized, especially the way his eyebrows wrinkled when he frowned. She smirked and took another swig.

"Well since no one else is lining up to be my knight in shining armor I guess you'll have to do."

"Are you saying I'm not as good as a knight in shining armor?" he asked, indignant.

"Nope," Ino shook her head vehemently. "You're better. You buy me booze without asking any questions. What's your name? You're cute," she laughed. She could feel the vodka speeding through her veins, making her head spin in a pleasant way.

"Kiba," he said, catching her arm as she missed her step. "Careful."

"Thanks," she muttered. She looped her arm through his. "I want to go to the park."

"The park?" Kiba asked, raising his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because," Ino drawled, "There's a spot there that no one ever goes to. It's a good drinking spot. I did mushrooms there one time. It was orgasmic," she added as an afterthought.

"Of course you did," Kiba muttered. Ino pulled him along behind her until they reached the park.

"It's this way," she said, screwing the lid back on the vodka bottle. She stuffed the paper bag in her giant purse and stepped off the beaten path and into the trees. "Come on, this isn't Red Riding Hood. There's no Big Bad Wolf waiting at Grandma's house."

She snorted and reached back to grab Kiba's hand. She pulled him into the foliage after her, letting go of his hand once they were deep enough in that he couldn't turn back.

"Hang on," Kiba pulled her to a halt. "I just bought a total stranger a bottle of vodka and now I'm letting her drag me off into the woods. Not that I don't trust you or anything, but you could at least tell me your name."

"Ha!" Ino threw her head back and laughed. "Ino," she said. "And don't worry, knight in shining armor, I'm not going to viciously murder you in the middle of the forest. I would get blood on my shoes and that would be icky."

"Wow," Kiba muttered. "Thanks for that reassurance, Ino."

"Let's go," Ino grabbed his hand, pulling him along again. She stepped carefully over broken branches and rocks, walking slightly on tip toe so that her heels didn't get stuck in the ground.

"Ok, where is this secret place you're taking me to?" Kiba broke the silence. Ino dropped to her hands and knees and crawled under a fallen tree. She stood up, dusting damp soil off her hands and jeans.

"Right over here," she said, stepping through some bushes. She looked over her shoulder and grinned at Kiba. They were in the most secret part of the forest that Ino and Sakura had stumbled across one day after a house party in high school Sakura had thought that cutting through the forest was a faster way home (she was wrong) and they ended up dozing and drinking the rest of the night away in this little paradise that was all their own.

Ino threw herself down on a tree stump and kicked her shoes off. She dropped her purse on the ground and tipped her head back to look at the cloudy sky. Her head was spinning, just a little bit, the blood running hot through her viens.

"So do you day drink in the park alone a lot?" Kiba asked her, sitting on the ground across from her. Ino laughed loudly, loving the way her voice echoed off the trees.

"No, I usually day drink with my best friend," she said. She snapped her head back down to earth and looked at Kiba. She had been right, he was cute, and tall, and a gentleman. She grinned at him.

"What?" he asked, looking a little nervous.

"Nothing," she said. "You're just really nice."

"Oh," Kiba blinked. "Thanks."

"But seriously, if you try to rape me I will totally mace your ass," Ino said firmly, reaching into her purse and taking out the tiny canister. "See?"

"Noted," Kiba said. "I'll keep that in mind if I ever turn into a psychopath."

"So Kiba," Ino said, slipping the mace into her pocket. "Do you do this a lot?"

"Do what a lot? Buy strange girls alcohol and go with them to secluded areas of the park? No, not really."

"Good," Ino said, slipping off the tree stump and walking over to him. She dropped down to her knees, bringing him to eye level. "I'm glad I'm not just another number to you."

* * *

**extras**_**:**__ I should really start on that research paper I have due in six days…but I just don't want to._

**REVIEWS!**

**NoctourneHeartsong: **_Awwwwe thank you! I wish I had more reviews too, because then I would get amazing reviews like this one!_

**Lady Miel Cacao: **_hahaha, of course you like her. She's a total badass!_

**CurlyHariRocksXD17: **_have no fear! Sakura's backstory will be revealed soon! But I had to get Ino and Kiba in there this time around. Soon we will know the inner pain of them ALL!_

**Crimson Falcons: **_Thanks! I really try to make it interesting! Plus, I like to think that everyone imagines what's happening in their heads like it's a little movie, so I like to describe everything so it looks cool._


	5. Heart Skipped a Beat

**disclaimer:** not my characters

**notes:** IT'S BEEN SO LONG! I missed you guys *heart* TWITTER: goddessrunaway (i will follow you back if you follow me, jussayin).

_**Someday**_

* * *

The feeling he got when he woke up every morning was terrible. For one blissful second he would wake up expecting to hear his mom flip-flopping down the hall in her slippers to nudge him awake like she did when he was a kid. But then he'd remember that he had no mom to wake him. He didn't have a dad to drink beer with. He had a headstone over an empty grave.

Minato and Kushina Uzumaki had been humanitarian ambassadors, travelling the world trying to help save it. Kushina was part of Doctors Without Boarders and Minato ran many charities that supplied aid money to those in need everywhere. Their lives had been so full of meaning that it was almost ironic that he went to lay flowers on an empty grave every weekend.

He used to imagine that Someday he would travel the world with his parents and help them save it. He used to imagine that he would see terrible things and together they would find a way to fix it. He used to imagine a bright Someday. Now all he saw were piles of textbooks and brochures and computer printouts that he slogged through to educate himself in his parents cause. He never imagined that he would be this tired. He never imagined that learning about what he loved would exhaust him this much. He wondered if it exhausted his parents as well.

He rubbed his eyes to stop thinking and rolled up so that he could swing his legs over the edge of the bed. He rested his feet on the floor for a moment before he stood up and shuffled out of his room. He could hear Sakura and Ino in the kitchen, chatting lightly, so we yawned loudly and plastered a tired grin on his face. If he smiled long enough it would start to feel real.

* * *

"So it's two days before semester ends and finals start. What are we doing this year over break?" Sakura asked, stretching he legs across Naruto's lap on the bus. The woman sitting across the filthy aisle from them glowered at them. Sakura ignored her.

"I dunno, we could always see if we could hit up a few post-exam parties," Naruto shrugged. "Or we could stay in this year."

"Ha!" Sakura laughed. "You're funny, blondie. Ooh! How about I ask Hinata what she's doing this year? Her family usually does this big bash at their ridiculous house. We could go to that!"

"Is it black tie? Because that's not really my thing," Naruto said. He looked down at his ripped jeans, muddy sneakers and sweater with holes in the sleeves. He was definitely NOT black tie material.

"Of course it is! And it's totally your thing. You're hot, you can pull it off," Sakura patted his knee. "I'll call her later tonight and ask what the what is."

"Awesome," Naruto said, not really meaning that it was awesome. "Now can we please address the issue of Ino and Kiba please?"

"Yeah, what is up with that?" Sakura asked. She swung her legs down and hopped up out of her chair as the bus pulled over to the curb. They got off and walked down the suburban street with their hands in their pockets.

"I don't know, but she's flirting with him and he's flirting with her. But Ino doesn't do relationships and Kiba only does relationships," Naruto said, not bothering to make sure he was making sense.

"Totally," Sakura agreed. "It's weird, right? I'm not crazy?"

"You're not crazy," Naruto confirmed. "This is it," he added, turning up a walkway. He knocked on Sasuke's door, leaning up against the doorjamb. Sakura rested her chin on his shoulder, hands in her pocket, toque slipping off her hair a little bit. He smiled at her. She was pretty, but in a little sister kind of way. He had shrugged off his worries when she came home late one night smelling like whiskey and cigarettes, but he watched he a little more closely after that.

"You guys are here!" Karin flung the door open. Sakura grinned and hugged her friend.

"We're not late, right?" she asked, following her inside. They slid off their shoes and hung their coats up. Sakura slid the toque off her head and shook her long hair out.

"Nope, right on sched," Karin shook her head. She gave Naruto a hug too. Ever since they started to get to know Karin better she had become much more affectionate. But no less rude. Naruto supposed it was nice that some things didn't change. He found her bluntness quite refreshing, actually. She was like Sasuke, only louder and more fun to be around. Nevertheless Naruto sat down on the couch next to his best friend.

"Bro," he said. Sasuke nodded at him. "How are you?"

"Fine," Sasuke muttered taking a long drink from his bottle of beer.

"Yo, Kiba!" Naruto called into the kitchen. Kiba stuck his head out, residue of a grin on his face.

"What?" he asked.

"Wanna grab me a beer?"

"Nope," Kiba answered, vanishing into the kitchen again. Naruto sighed and got up again.

"Be right back," he muttered. "Oh, is Suigetsu here yet?"

"Nah," Sasuke shook his head. Naruto shrugged and went into the kitchen. Sakura had already integrated herself into the cooking process, shooing Karin and Ino away from the stove. Kiba was being unhelpful, sitting on the island in the middle of the kitchen, drinking a beer, occasionally offering up commentary. Neji wasn't there, so Naruto assumed he hadn't arrived yet. He we to the fridge and grabbed a beer. As he was walking back to the living room the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," he called. He opened the door, beer in hand and froze. Hinata and Neji were standing on the doorstep, each with an arm around Suigetsu, who looked like someone had decided to change the shape of his face.

"Dude! What the hell happened?" Naruto nearly dropped his beer.

"No clue. Just found him staggering in this general direction about ten minutes ago. Help me out here, will you?" Neji said.

"Right. Here, you can have this," Naruto said, handing his beer to Hinata. "I'll get another one later."

Together he and Neji hauled Suigetsu over the threshold and got him to the living room. There was a moment of stunned silence while everyone hovered for a second before, mercifully, Sakura seemed to snap out of it and take charge.

"Ok, I need someone to help me in the kitchen. Karin, you live here, so can you grab some first aid for this guy. And Sasuke, make him some kind of ice pack."

"Sakura, I'm so glad you're the one of all my friends who wants to be a doctor," Naruto said, hugging around the shoulders. "You're awesome."

"So are you because you just volunteered to help me cook!" Sakura grinned impishly up at him.

"Awwe what?" Naruto groaned.

"I can h-help too," Hinata said softly. She smiled at them both, shrugging her coat off.

"Great!" Sakura grinned.

* * *

Karin found the first aid kit and went back down stairs. Suigetsu was nowhere to be found. She rolled her eyes and started opening doors at random. She finally found him in the guest bathroom, sitting on the closed toilet seat with his head between his hands.

"Hey," she said. He looked up, one eye swollen, bruised cheekbone, fat lip and cuts and scrapes all over his face, knuckles, arms.

"Oh God, not you," he groaned, dropping his face back into his hands again. Karin frowned. She thought she could see tears on his face, but she couldn't really tell amid all the blood.

"Fine," she snapped, slamming the metal first aid container down on the counter. "Clean yourself up then."

"No," he said softly. "Karin, hang on."

Karin paused hand on the door. She turned around slowly, cocking her head to the side, looking at him closely. He had dumped his sweater on the floor, his t-shirt was ripped and there was a bloody hole torn in one knee of his jeans. His sneakers were covered in mud and his hair was matted and gnarled. She sighed and picked up the first aid box. She perched herself on the edge of the tub next to the toilet and popped open the lid.

"All right," she said. "Let's have a look at you."

* * *

Suigetsu sat silently as Karin daubed a cut on his forehead with disinfectant. He winced when it stung. Karin told him, rather sharply, to suck it up, but she was much more gentle after that.

"So how did you end up with this?" she asked, gesturing vaguely at his ragged appearance. He shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it. His knuckles were sore and his head was throbbing. He really just wanted to go to sleep. But Karin wasn't having any of that.

"Come on," she scolded lightly. "You got your ass kicked for a reason. What happened?"

"Nothing," he mumbled.

"Uh huh," Karin didn't sound like she believed him. _He_ didn't even believe him. She made a clucking noise when she turned his head to the side and saw the gash on his forehead, just above his left eye. "You got messed up, dude."

Suigetsu surprised himself when he choked out a laugh. "No kidding?" he asked sarcastically. Karin rolled her eyes. "I got into it with a few guys I used to run with. They didn't like that I left the crew."

"Really?" Karin raised an eyebrow, but didn't look him in the eye. She was digging through the first air kit looking for bandages.

"Yeah," Suigetsu shrugged. "Ow, shit!"

"What?" Karin looked up quickly. She set the kit aside on the ledge of the bathtub next to her. "Let me see," she glared at him. Suigetsu reluctantly tugged his shirt over his head. He heard Karin suck in a breath.

"Damn," she said. "That looks like hell. Bet it feels like hell too." She picked up some bandages and started sticking them on his face. "I'll get Sasuke to lend you some clean clothes," she said and added after a moment of consideration: "And some ice packs. Or possibly a visit to the emergency room."

"I'm not going to the emergency room," Suigetsu snapped, his moment of tolerance for Karin vanished.

"What if you've broken something? I broke my ribs once, falling out of a tree. Hurt like a bitch."

"I haven't broken anything," he snarled, yanking his shirt back on. He ignored the screaming pain that lanced through his back and swiped his sweater up off the floor before storming out of the bathroom. He joined the rest of the group in the living room where they were all eating off their knees, discussing Christmas plans. He didn't notice that Karin hadn't followed him until Ino looked up and frowned.

"Where's Karin? I thought she was mopping you up?" she said to him.

"I dunno," he shrugged and took another swig of his beer.

"I'll go find her," Sasuke sighed and stood up. Suigetsu watched him leave, pressing his lips tightly together. He knew he shouldn't have snapped at Karin like he did, she was just trying to be helpful, but he couldn't shake the feeling that she was bad news. She was just too good at making him want to share his feelings.

* * *

Sasuke was shit at the whole feelings thing. So he had no idea what possessed him to volunteer to look for Karin. It was pretty much a guarantee that she was avoiding the group because of something that happened between her and Suigetsu. Seriously, he thought as he climbed the stairs, those two had been at each other's throats from the moment they met. Sasuke vaguely recalled Suigetsu turning red with anger and snarling an accusatory "You!" at Karin. He also remember Karin go white with rage and sit tight lipped for the rest of lunch, refusing to speak to anyone, hand clenched into tight fists in her lap.

"Karin?" he tapped on her door.

"What?" Karin wrenched it open. Her hair was down, tangled around her shoulders. She was holding a hairbrush in one hand. She had changed out of her stylish skirt and fancy top in favour of a pair of old sweat pants, rolled up to the knee, ankle socks and a black t-shirt with the words 'long hurr, don't curr' emblazoned in faded neon letters across the front. He frowned at the cryptic message of the t-shirt but didn't comment.

"You missed dinner," he said.

"Yeah, I wasn't hungry," Karin shrugged. "Wanna come in? I was gonna hit a club."

"Are you old enough to go to clubs?" Sasuke asked, closing the door behind him. Karin shrugged and sat down at her vanity table, flipping her head forward so that she was upside down. She took her hairbrush and started to backcomb her long red hair until it stuck out all around her head like she had been electrocuted.

"Nice look," Sasuke said dryly. "Very sexy. That will get you all the boys tonight."

"Damn straight," Karin said, mimicking his serious tone. She grinned at him like a wolf in the mirror and grabbed a hair elastic off the table.

"How exactly are you getting to the club?" he asked her.

"I was going to whine until you agreed to drive me," Karin admitted unashamedly. Sasuke sighed. He knew he would have given too. Over the past few months Karin had grown on him, not that he's ever admit it out loud.

"My turn to ask a question," Karin said. "How long have you been in love with Sakura?"

"What?" Sasuke spluttered and coughed. Where the hell had that come from?

"It's so painfully obvious that you have got the hots for her. When did it start?" Karin asked. She had finished tying her hair back into a high ponytail and was starting in on her eyeliner. Sasuke watched her in the mirror as she drew a smooth dark line over the curvature of her eyelid.

"I don't have the hots for anyone," he said.

"Yeah," Karin snorted. "Sure. And I'm Kate Moss."

"Why are you going to a club tonight? I thought we agreed that this was going to be a night in," Sasuke asked Karin. He asked partially because he was serious and partially because he wanted to change the subject.

"I feel like I've been thinking too much," Karin shrugged.

"We should all go," Sasuke said. "Even Suigetsu, although I don't know if the little bastard can walk or not."

"Do we have to bring him?" Karin whined. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Why shouldn't we?" he asked, genuinely curious about something concerning Suigetsu for once.

"I just – " Karin shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think he likes me very much, that's all."

She turned to face the mirror again, picking up a brush and some eye shadow.

"You don't have to talk to him," Sasuke said, walking to the door. "Whatever he thinks of you, just ignore it. He's a terrible judge of character. He's friends with me."

"As if I needed more proof," Karin rolled her eyes. But she smiled a little bit. Sasuke nodded, pleased that he had managed to have some sort of emotional connection with her and then left.

* * *

**extras:** _I have officially written two exams! Well, when I hand in my take home final I will have officially written two exams, so that may be a bit premature, but still._

_ANYWAY: I got kind of a whiny, pretentious review on my other story, which is completed, called "Some Assembly Required" and the reviewer (who decided to just log in as a 'guest') went on and on and on about my "terrible grammar" and "poor plot planning" and "excessive cursing". They also mentioned (and this is actually a pretty legit point) that I may have put the story at too low of a rating, so I bumped it up to M, from T, because of sex and stuff. PLUS, for any one who actually reads this stuff at the end of the chapter, I AM TOTALLY AWARE OF THE TYPOS. I also know that my writing is not seeming up to par with a university student (*cough guest reviewer cough*), but that's just because 1. I'm lazy and busy and don't want to go back and find every single typo and fix it. And 2. I may be a university student but that doesn't mean that I have to talk and write like I swallowed a textbook. Most of my professors swear more in class than I do in an entire day. And while I appreciate the constructive criticism, I think that in the future, anyone who wants to criticize me should take a second to consider that there may be a specific reason why I write like this. And if you were wondering it's because I DON'T WANT TO SOUND LIKE A PRETENTIOUS ASSHOLE. Excuse the caps lock, but it's after midnight where I live and I have had too little sleep this week thanks to studying._

_But if the typos really bug people, message me with the chapter/general section they are in and I will try to fix them up for a smoother, more enjoyable reading experience. I try to edit my chapters before I post them but occasionally (because I am a human person with a life outside of this fandom) I am pressed for time or I miss things. _

**The REVIEWS:**

**CurlyHairRocksXD17: **_thanks! I'm glad you like it! I try to do backstory for everyone, because, as evidenced by your review, it keeps things interesting. Plus, dramatic backstories with lots of angst are fun to write : )_

**wingedmercury: **_I MISSED YOU AND I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE BACK! oh, there will be a fall. A hard fall. And it will be soon…ish…maybe. Sometime within the next year at least. I have honestly no idea how long this story is going to be. SAR was only supposed to be like 12 chapters and it ended up being like 26 so anything could really happen at this point._

**Lady Miel Cacao: **_it's nice that you feel relaxed while reading this. I wasn't originally aiming for such a chill chapter, but that's how it ended up and I'm quite pleased with that._

**LadyMartel14000:**_ first thing you should know about me: my update schedule is the most irregular thing in the world. Just ask __**wingedmercury. **__I will however promise to update as soon as I possibly can within the restrictions of my schedule with school and work. I hope my inability to meet self-imposed deadlines doesn't make you leave my story behind!_


	6. The Reality of It All (I'm Not Okay)

**disclaimer:** don't own the characters

**notes:** (belated) happy holidays/new years guys! I'm about to place a massive book order online and am very excited about it.

_**Someday**_

* * *

Kiba sat down in the Courtyard next to the tree, turning his cell phone over in his hand. The device had been burning a metaphorical hole in his pocket all day. He flipped through the contacts and paused on the 'I's. Ino's name appeared to be shining brighter than the rest. He sighed and pressed his hand against his face. He felt like such a moron.

"What are you doing man? Don't you have class or something?" Naruto asked, sitting down next to him.

"Oh, yeah," Kiba shrugged. "I'm just taking a quick break to think about something."

"Like what?" Naruto braced his elbows against the insides of his knees, frowning. "You ok man? You've been looking distracted lately."

"Yeah," Kiba said. "No. No I don't know what to do about Ino."

"Ino?"

"You're her roommate," Kiba said. "Tell me something about her. Does she want me to ask her out or is she just looking for a fling? Because if it's the latter then she's barking up the wrong tree."

"Ah, that is the million dollar question, isn't it?" Naruto nodded sagely. "Ino is a tough nut to crack. She's got commitment issues because of her mom leaving her dad and her when she was a kid. Of course, if you tried hard enough to prove to her that you aren't going to pull something like that then she might date you."

"You think so?" Kiba looked at his friend. "I mean I get that she's damaged, who isn't, but I don't want to screw up what we've got now by asking her out, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it. But you never know unless you try, right? Grab your balls and man up, dude. Ask her on a date."

Naruto clapped him on the back and got up. Kiba looked down at his phone and clicked on Ino's name. He took a deep breath and raised the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Ino? It's Kiba. Are you free on Friday? Awesome! Want to grab some coffee with me?"

* * *

Tenten sighed and threw her apron in her bag. Her neck and back hurt, she was tired, had a headache and all she wanted to do was lie down and not get up for three days. But she had to get to the gym. Tenten looked at her watch. She could still get in an hour work out before it closed. She zipped up her hoodie and started walking in her worn white sneakers. She was hoping Naruto would be at the gym, mainly because it was hilarious when Naruto and Lee were in the same room together for too long. She grinned, remembering their last encounter, which ended in a boxing match that was eventually settled by a game of 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'. She turned the corner and shoved open the back door entrance of the gym. The smell of sweat washed over her and she coughed. The smell wasn't pleasant, but it exhilarated her all the same.

"Tenten," Anko was standing in the middle of the boxing ring, hands on her hips. "About damn time."

"Sorry," Tenten said, tossing her bag at the base of the ring. She unzipped her hoodie and tied her long brown hair back in a high ponytail. "Got held up at work. Chouji is a slave driver. You ready to go?"

"Always," Anko held up her hands, wrapped in thick white bandages. Tenten pulled out her own roll out of her bag and quickly wrapped her own hands with practiced ease.

"Let's do this," Tenten slipped into the ring, hopping up and down.

"Hyuuga!" Anko barked. Tenten looked around. "Keep to yourself. I'm training my girl to be a badass. No interruptions, got it?"

Neji had slipped in the back door when Tenten was wrapping her hands. He nodded at her and Anko and tossed his own sweater on a bench press. He went up to a punching bag and took up a stance, raising his hands in front of him.

"All right," Tenten said. "Let's kick some ass." She ducked as Anko threw the first punch and yelped as Anko's knee came up and caught her in the ribs. She let out a yell and side swiped Anko's face with her fist, before clotheslining her old friend with her arm. She was going to win one of these fights eventually. She would win and then she would be ready. She would be ready to leave this small town and her small apartment and her deadbeat, drug addict mother. She would make it, fighting professionally, and not have to worry about whether or not her mother was going to invite her dealer over and pay him with her daughter because she was flat broke again.

Tenten wiped blood off her forehead where Anko had made a cut and threw herself back into the fight with more viciousness than before. She didn't notice Neji stop what he was doing to watch her, frowning.

* * *

"So," Naruto said, standing in front of the empty grave. "You guys know that I'm almost finished with school now. I've been looking for a place to start working. The ultimate goal is obviously the UN, but I have a lot more work to do before I get there. I hope you guys are proud of me, because this is a lot of work."

The grave didn't answer back, it never did, and Naruto had stopped expecting it to. He had long ago given up on some sort of divine intervention that would light the path he was supposed to take. The only way he was going to get where he wanted to go would be to work hard.

"Anyway, I brought new flowers. Ino said they were really nice ones, so you guys have the best flowers in this place. I'm gonna head out now, I've got a standing lunch with Sakura. We're discussing, very seriously, her bizarre relationship with Sasuke. She claims that she doesn't like him, but I know her. She totally does. And Sasuke is practically tripping over himself to impress her. It's actually kind of pathetic, although Mom, you would have thought it was adorable. Anyway, I gotta go or I'll be late. See you guys later."

Naruto walked away from his parents grave, hands in his pockets, head down against the cool winter air.

"Naruto?"

He stopped and looked around. A few rows and graves away was Hinata, bundled up in her winter coat, a bouquet of flowers in her hand. She smiled at him and Naruto walked through the rows of gravestones to where she was standing.

"Hey," he said, smiling down at her. "What brings you here?"

"I'm just sprucing up my uncle and aunt's headstone," Hinata shrugged. She held up the flowers. "Calla Lilies were her favourite."

"Do you mind my asking what happened to them?" Naruto asked, walking along with her. The stopped in front of an elegant headstone with two names inscribed upon it in cursive. Hinata crouched down and laid the flowers at the base.

"Neji's mother died in childbirth," Hinata said, standing up, "But his father was a police officer who was the victim of a revenge killing."

"Whoa, these are Neji's parents?" Naruto asked, surprised. "I had no idea."

"He doesn't like to talk about it too much. In fact he doesn't even come out here to visit. Not since his father's funeral. I don't really know how he copes with it, but he spends a lot of time taking care of other people."

"Neji is really good at that. I remember one time at the gym Lee broke his finger and Neji drove him to the hospital, despite Lee's protests, in the middle of a snowstorm. It was pretty impressive," Naruto recalled. "Neji isn't very social, but he's a really nice guy."

"I see him wandering the house sometimes at night," Hinata said. "Especially on the anniversaries of their deaths. I don't think he knows what to do with himself," Hinata shrugged. Naruto looked at her and caught her rub the back of her gloved hand across her eyes.

"Hey now," he put his arm around her shoulders. "Neji is a tough guy. He'll figure it out. It takes different people different amounts of time to get over these things. He'll get through it."

"Yeah," Hinata nodded. They were silent for a bit and Hinata dusted dried mud off the base of the head stone and then lit two candles. She stayed crouched for a moment, speaking quietly to the headstone about the things that had happened recently to Neji and herself. When she stood up she had tears in her eyes again, but she blinked rapidly and they disappeared. Naruto felt his heart leap in his chest.

"You ok?" he asked, patting his pockets, looking for a tissue or something. She nodded, waving him off.

"I'm fine," Hinata smiled. "I never asked who you were hear to see."

"My parents are here," Naruto said as they started walking again. "They died when I was a kid. Don't apologize," he added quickly seeing that she was about too. "It's no one's fault that they died. It really was just an accident."

"Do you mind my asking what happened?" Hinata asked.

"They were doing humanitarian work in a war zone and were travelling through a safe zone when a roadside bomb went off. It was the only one in the safe zone, which is why it wasn't noticed and removed. The grave here is empty. My Uncle didn't think it would be a good idea to have little bits of my parents shipped back. Not good for a five year old, you know?" Naruto laughed bitterly. Hinata didn't say anything; she just looped her arm through his and rested her head against his shoulder. Naruto was struck by a sudden surge of something…heady that rushed through his body and made his head spin.

"Hinata," he said abruptly. "Do you want to get dinner with me sometime?"

To his surprise Hinata turned a lovely shade of bright red. She looked down and mumbled something into her scarf. Naruto put one hand on her shoulder and leant closer to her.

"Sorry?" he asked, smiling at her. Hinata somehow managed to avoid making eye contact with him despite the proximity of their faces.

"Yes, please," Hinata whispered. Naruto blinked as his heart skipped a beat and then soared.

* * *

Tenten got home late that night. Her head was throbbing a little from the ass whooping she had suffered at the merciless hands of Anko, but she had enjoyed herself, nonetheless. She felt invigorated with the adrenaline rushing through her veins. She pushed the feeling down as she approached the apartment though. She didn't want her mother spotting a grin on her face. If her mother thought she was happy for some reason then she would assume Tenten got a pay raise and start robbing her again for drug money.

Tenten got her key out of her bag and stuck it in the lock. The door swung inward before she even unlocked it. She frowned and slid the key out, slipping it back in her bag. She slipped inside as quietly as possible, leaving the door open behind her. She set her bag down just inside the hall and followed the sound of hushed voices to the small kitchen. Tenten's mother was sitting at the tiny kitchen table counting out bills. Her dealer, Tenten couldn't remember his name and she didn't care, was leaning over her, rubbing his hands together. Tenten felt a sick jolt in her stomach. She recognized the glasses and the greasy ponytail and that smile. How could she forget that smile?

"Here," Tenten's mother handed over the money. The dealer tossed a packet of white powder on the table.

"You're short," the dealer said, blocking Tenten's mother's eagerly grabbing hands from the drug. "How are you going to make up the difference?"

"Kabuto," her mother pled. "Just let it go this once. When my daughter gets her next pay check you'll get the rest. I promise!"

Kabuto looked over his shoulder, throwing Tenten a smirk that made her stomach churn. "What if we resurrected our old deal, from a few years back?" he asked. Tenten's mother followed his gaze and stared blankly at her daughter. Tenten felt her blood run cold as her mother nodded and snatched up the drugs. She remembered that deal too. Kabuto walked over to her, taking his time, apparently not worried about anything.

"Remember me?" he asked, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her into him. Tenten bit her tongue to keep from screaming like a child. His hand ghosted down her body to the waistband of her sweat pants. As soon as Tenten felt his cold hand slip inside her pants she snapped out of her daze. With a shout she brought her knee up between his legs with all her strength. Kabuto doubled over, swearing. He recovered more quickly than she anticipated and grabbed her by the hair. He threw her into the wall and quickly followed up with a punch, straight to the nose. Tenten didn't even feel the pain of his hit, or the blood that was beginning to sluggishly pour down her face. She was on autopilot. She balled her right hand into a fist and hit him hard in the face, copying the vicious upper cut that Anko had nailed her with earlier in the evening. Then she lashed out with a left hook, knocking Kabuto sideways. She grabbed him by the front of the jacket and shoved him up against the wall. She slammed her forearm into his neck, bruising his windpipe. She noticed that he was actually a few inches shorter than her and had to push back the bizarre urge to laugh. Kabuto's face was turning red; he spluttered, gasping for air. Tenten put her face close to his and growled in his ear.

"If you come near me, or my mother ever again, you little fucker, I swear to any god that exists that I will personally come after you and make you wish you had never set eyes on either of us. Got it?"

She didn't wait for him to answer. She just grabbed the back of his jacket and hurled him out the door of the apartment. Then she looked over her shoulder at her mother who was still seated at the kitchen table. She hadn't even looked up from her new stash, already cutting lines of coke and rolling up a piece of paper to snort it with. Tenten snatched up her bag and slammed the apartment door behind her. She had thought about leaving plenty of times before, but for once she was absolutely certain that she wasn't going back.

* * *

Neji was about to turn off the last of the lights in the gym (he had let Anko bully him into closing up because she had a date) when he heard the back door bang closed. He frowned and walked out of the office at the front, looking around the semi-dark gym to see who had shown up after closing. There was a loud clang as a few weight clattered out of their rack and onto the floor.

"Shit!"

"Tenten?" Neji crossed the gym and knelt by her. She was carefully putting the weights back, one by one. There was a cut across the bridge of her nose and blood was smeared across the lower half of her face. She looked like hell.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, swiping up the last of the weights and putting them away. He offered a hand to help Tenten up but she ignored him, pushing herself up on her own.

"Nothing," she muttered. He raised an eyebrow.

"Bullshit," he said. Tenten glared at him. He glared back. They were in a bit of a glaring stalemate until Tenten finally rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she snapped. "I'm looking for a place to crash. Happy?"

"And you chose the gym because?"

"I know where Anko keeps the spare key to the back door," Tenten shrugged, throwing her bag down next to the ring. She sat on the edge, weaving her body between the ropes, hooking her arms over them. Her feet dangled a few feet off the floor. Neji noticed that there was blood splattered on her dirty sneakers as well.

"What happened to your face?" he asked.

"Got punched," Tenten said shortly. She obviously didn't want to talk about it.

"Well you've got blood everywhere. I'll get the first aid kit. Stay here," Neji said, walking to the office.

"As if I'd go anywhere," Tenten muttered after him. He rolled his eyes. Anko kept a surprisingly up-to-date first aid kit. He thought about that crazy woman and shuddered, but he supposed that she was exemplary at her job. He grabbed the first aid kit and went back out to the ring. Tenten was exactly where he had left her, except that she had dragged her bag up into the ring next to her and had pulled on her sweater.

Neji put the first aid kit next to her wordlessly and opened the water bottle he brought back with him from the office. He poured the cold water over a clean towel that was on the ringside bench and handed it to Tenten. In equal silence she slowly wiped the blood off her face, gingerly patting around her nose, wincing occasionally.

"It hurts more afterwards," she said. "You don't even feel it during the fight."

Neji poured some disinfectant on a cotton ball and carefully dabbed at the cut on her nose, careful not to press to hard. He tossed it in the trash and picked up a bandage from the box.

"If you need a place to stay," he said, crumpling up the wrappings, "You can always stay in the guest room at my place. Hinata's dad is out of town on business and it's a pretty small room, but if you want it no one would mind."

"Why are you offering?" Tenten asked, suddenly suspicious.

"I just figured that an actual bed was better than sleeping in the ring," Nejis said, gently pressing the bandage onto the bridge of her nose. "I'll take you to the emergency room tomorrow to get this checked out properly."

"No," Tenten said. "I don't need your help."

"I'm not offering," Neji said. He closed the lid on the first aid kit and looked up, meeting her eyes squarely. "You're not staying here and I'm taking you to the ER tomorrow."

"Not even gonna try to sweet talk me, Hyuuga?" Tenten snarled. Neji put his hands on the ropes on either side of her body.

"I don't negotiate," he said flatly.

* * *

Sakura sighed and rolled over onto her back. She was lying on the plush shag pile rug in Karin's massive bedroom. Ino was pacing nervously and Karin was lounging on a beanbag chair looking completely unconcerned.

"What do I do?" Ino cried, nearing hysteria. "I mean he asked me out! I don't go out on dates!"

"Well do you like him?" Sakura asked. Ino answered a positive. "And do you think he wants more than a one night stand?" Again Ino answered that she thought he did. "Well then what's the problem?"

"I don't want to end up like my parents," Ino said.

"Honey," Karin said from her chair. "First of all, you are young, you are going to have relationships that end badly. We all will, if we haven't already. And second, if you don't want to end up like your parents then just don't make the same mistakes they did. That's what kids are supposed to do, isn't it? Learn from our parents mistakes."

Karin's logic seemed to have stumped Ino momentarily. Sakura was just starting to enjoy the quiet again when Ino piped up again.

"What if he's a really good liar and he doesn't really want a relationship and he's just doing this because he knows how to play women?"

"Then tell him right off the bat that you want something serious. If that scares him off then you're safe. You can't expect to enter into a relationship without risking something in the process," Sakura said. "You are just going to have to start trusting people again. Perish the thought."

"Don't get sarcastic with me," Ino snapped.

"Why don't you guys stay here tonight? We can have a girl's night and talk about this after dinner," Karin cut in before the discussion could escalate. Sakura shrugged and sat up. Ino sat down looking a little hopeless. Sakura sighed again and went over to hug her.

"It'll be fine. Kiba seems nice. Even Naruto likes him. That's got to be a good sign," she said. Ino nodded, but didn't look any less relieved. Sakura looked at Karin and mouthed 'alcohol?'. Karin nodded and got up. She reappeared a few minutes later with a bottle of tequila and some shot glasses. Sakura stood up and stretched. It was going to be a long night.

Sakura was right. The night was a long one. She was lying in a sleeping bag in between Karin and Ino, wide-awake, staring at the ceiling. She had a little post-drinking cottonmouth. Slowly she sat up, shaking the sleeping bag off her body and slid out onto the cold wood floor. Shivering she stood, rubbing her arms to dispel the goose bumps. She wiggled her toes to get the blood circulating and tiptoed out of the room and into the hallway. The kitchen was dark and Sakura had a difficult time being quiet as she got herself some cold water from the tap. She chugged a couple glasses, rinsing her mouth a couple times, and put the empty glass in the sink. Making her way back upstairs was easier now that her eyes had adjusted to the light. She did pause once, however, thinking she heard a cry of pain or something, but she listened and didn't hear anything. She started walking again, chills creeping up on her again. She shuddered and paused outside a door that was slightly ajar to rub her arms and legs. She wanted to make a mad dash for Karin's room and get into her sleeping bag but a noise stopped her. It sounded like someone was crying out for help, genuinely afraid. She frowned. It had to be either Sasuke or Itachi because there was no one else in the house. The cry came again, muffled by sleep. It was coming from the room with the open door. Sakura gulped, feeling a sudden irrational surge of fear, and pushed the door open, slowly making her way inside.

It _was_ Sasuke. He was lying in his bed, blankets and sheets tangled around his lower half, tossing back and forth as if struggling with something.

"Lemme go!" his protests were muffled by sleep, but his voice was getting louder. Sakura tiptoed over to the bed and knelt on the edge closest to him, frowning. His eyes moved wildly beneath his closed lids and there was a fine sweat on his brow. He was not having a good dream. Sakura reached out and shook him firmly by the shoulder.

"Sasuke," she said, "Wake up!" When nothing happened she shook him harder, with both hands this time. He gasped in his sleep and struggled against her, clawing at her arms with his hands. "Sasuke!" she tried to wrench a hand free but his grip was like steel. All of a sudden he let go of her arms of his own volition, his sleeping face twisting into a mask of horror and rage, and his hands closed around her throat. Sakura choked, her air supply cut off, and lashed out furiously, slapping his hard across the face. The sound echoed around the silent house like a gunshot and Sakura was amazed when no one came running to see what all the fuss was about.

Sasuke's eyes snapped open, his chests hitching up and down, breathing hard. The look of horror on his face spread and intensified when he realized what was happening. He let go of her neck, ripping his hands from her like she was something dangerous, scrambling up against the pillows of the bed trying to put as much distance between them as possible. Sakura ruefully rubbed her sore neck, glaring at him with watering eyes. She blinked a few times to clear her vision and realized that his eyes were watering too.

"Are you ok?" she asked, quietly. Sasuke gave a short, barking laugh as he registered the question and dragged his hands through his messy hair. He rubbed his hands across his face, wiping away sweat and tears, Sakura suspected, then he looked at her. Their eyes met and for a moment Sakura was left breathless from the intensity of his gaze. There was so much raw emotion, pain, shock, horror, fear, grief, there in his dark eyes that she lost her train of thought and had to fight the urge to avert her eyes.

"No," he whispered into the dark. "I'm not ok."

* * *

Itachi knew he should be at work, but he couldn't bear to go into that office today. So he called his secretary and told her he needed to take a personal day, and went down to his favourite bar. It was the old bar he and his friends had frequented in collage, and now his best friends owned it. But he wasn't here to see Sasori or Deidara. He sat at the bar in his usual stool: at the end of the bar, close to the fire exit.

"Rough day?"

A lighter appeared in his line of vision and a blue hand flicked it, lighting it up. Itachi looked up and saw the man he had come here to see: Kisame. Although, he wasn't usually blue in the literal sense.

"Dare I ask why more than just your hair is blue today?" he asked dryly, waving the light away. He had given up smoking years ago. Kisame shrugged and put the lighter in his pocket.

"Lost a bet. Poker night without you is brutal."

"Then don't bet again Konan," Itachi said. They all knew better than to bet again Konan. She had a way with card games, or anything involving paper really. That was probably why she was such a successful author.

"You look worried," Kisame observed casually. He was always good at reading Itachi. He was one of the only people that could.

"I am," Itachi admitted. "About Sasuke. About Karin. About the company. I worry about everything, Kisame. It's hard not too."

"Maybe you need a drink," Kisame poured him a glass of his favourite vintage bourbon and slid it over the bar to him.

"I think I may," Itachi picked up the glass and looked at his warped reflection in the amber liquid. Then he put the glass down again. "Sasuke won't talk to me. Sometimes whole days go by and we barely say three words to each other."

"Eh," Kisame shrugged. "Suigetsu sometimes doesn't come home at night, but I don't let it phase me. Guy's got issues and there's nothing I can do about them unless he wants me to help. I reckon that Sasuke is about the same."

"I wish he wasn't," Itachi said bitterly. He slammed back the bourbon and lightly dropped the glass back on the bar. It made a bell-like echo as it landed. "I wish he wasn't the one that walked in on that scene. It should have been me instead. I'm supposed to protect him. It's my job, but how do I do that if he never asks for my help?"

"That's the great thing about being the boss of everything, Itachi," Kisame said, refilling his glass. "You get to delegate tasks to other people. So delegate some things at work and delegate some Sasuke-stuff to his friends and delegate some Karin-stuff to her friends. And maybe let someone take care of you once and a while. You look like you're losing sleep a little too often."

Itachi grinned a ghastly smile. Of course he had been losing sleep. He hadn't even made it home last night because there was so much paper work and had woken up at his desk with a cramp in his back and neck. Sasuke was already gone by the time he got home and Karin was in her room with two friends studying for finals.

"I don't know if he'll ever got used to it," Itachi said.

"Who Sasuke? Get used to not having his parents around?" Kisame frowned and leant against the bar. "No kid ever gets used to that, especially if they have to grow up without parents. It's hard, it's something that sets them apart from everyone else and it either breaks them or makes them too strong for their own good. In the case of the Uchiha Brother I'd have to say it's the latter."

"Brothers?" Itachi questioned. Kisame nodded. Itachi had never really considered the effect the death of his parents would have on him. He simply stopped caring about anything except making sure his little brother was all right and when the company had been signed over to him he made sure that was all right too. By the time Karin rolled in he wasn't sure if anything was all right, but he kept trying anyway, not complaining once, simply adjusting himself around the constant increase in workload and responsibility. He hadn't realized that it was making him less of who he was. He didn't notice that he was becoming a stubborn, silent martyr of sorts, for the sake of his family.

"You are just as stubborn and stoic as Sasuke. You are the original Uchiha Ice Block of Independence," Kisame said. Itachi snorted at the 'title'. "It's true!" Kisame protested. "You don't ever tell anyone when there is too much for you to handle. You just compartmentalize every little thing until it's second nature for you not to outwardly react. I don't even know if you've fully coped with what happened to your parents. You just have gotten too good at rolling with the punches. Once and a while you have to let something go or you're going to kill yourself trying to hold it together."

Itachi downed his second drink and stared into the empty glass. His head was spinning and he couldn't figure out if he was angry with Kisame for reading him so well or grateful that someone had finally noticed that he was falling apart faster than he could pick up the pieces.

"I worry about you," Kisame said. He hesitated for a moment before pushing the glass aside and resting his dyed blue hand over Itachi's for a fleeting moment. Itachi barely had time to register the gesture, his eyes widening, before Kisame took his hand away and picked up the glass, moving it to the sink behind him.

"I should get going," Itachi stood up. "I took the day off work today. Karin wanted help going through her political science material before her exam tomorrow," Itachi waited for Kisame to look at him so he could say good-bye, but his friend kept his back to him, industriously washing the glass he had used. His shoulders under his black t-shirt were tight. "I'll see you later," Itachi said. Kisame nodded once sharply, still not looking at him. Something tightened in Itachi's chest, but, like he did everything else, he pushed it down to be dealt with later. Without saying anything else, and completely bewildered by Kisame's sudden coldness, he left the bar.

* * *

**extras:** _FINALLY AN UPDATE! I seem to recall that I said I would get a couple updates in over the break (which obviously was a lie. I apologize for my poor time management skills), BUT I return to you now with an extra long (for me) chapter! 13 pages guys! Also I added a nice bit about Itachi, because I recently decided that he was not getting enough fanfic love from my corner. So there's that. _

_AND WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THIS WORLD, EH? Can't believe that after so many shootings in America that people still refuse to rethink the 2__nd__ amendment. I cried after I heard about Sandy Hook. SERIOUSLY, JUST STOP SHOOTING EACH OTHER! I wish there was some way we could rewind and stop Sandy Hook, especially Sandy Hook, because so many of the victims were just kids and that is simply heart breaking. There needs to be more love and understanding in the world. Let's spread the love, you guys._

_ALSO, the world didn't end._

_AND I KNOW I RANTED A LOT ABOUT THAT ONE REVIEWER WHO WAS MEAN, BUT I'M SERIOUSLY OVER IT NOW. Still, if you see typos just message me and I'll fix them when I have a second. Because I know that when I find typos when I'm reading it does kind of annoy me. Unless it's one of my uni textbooks, in which case I just laugh because I'm an asshole._

_Before I go, I must say that I am quite fond of my Itachi/Kisame moment there. I feel like it was heartfelt (although I could be delusional, so let me know if you disagree)._

**REVIEWS:**

**LadyMartel4000: I like how you review every chapter, no matter how much it doesn't make sense. This makes me happy.**

**Lady Miel Cacao: WHY THANK YOU! I really appreciate that. I have found that I enjoy writing angsty-type-stuff.**

**wingedmercury: would you believe that I actually forgot I promised a party until you mentioned it? LOL, don't worry though, I will have that in soon.**


	7. Calm Me Down

**disclaimer:** Not my characters. Or my Cheerios, more's the pity.

**notes:** I AM SO BAD AT WORKING ON ASSIGNMENTS! AGH! There go my hopes and dreams of a half decent midterm mark…ah well.

_**Someday**_

* * *

Sakura rolled out of bed early (but not really) that morning. It was just after exams and she was completely ready to wind down and got to a couple Christmas parties, make bad decisions and regret them in the morning. But instead she was at home, alone, on a Friday. Naruto had gone out really early (9:30 am) to meet Hinata and Tenten and Neji for some sort of weird couples/friends/acquaintances brunch thing. She honestly didn't know what the hell was going on there. Was Tenten dating Neji? Was Naruto dating Hinata? Was it a bizarre, slightly incestuous orgy? She hoped it wasn't the last one, but decided not to rule it out. Ino was still out after her fourth date with Kiba. It appeared that she had finally decided to 'seal the deal', as it were. Sakura sighed. Everyone was pretty happy with their lives. Which was a nice change. Sakura hummed to herself as she banged around the kitchen making coffee and deciding on breakfast (which was actually closer to lunch at this point because early for her was pretty much midday for everyone else on the planet). Sakura had just sat down to her bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios when someone knocked on the door.

No one had buzzed, had they?

Sakura got up and walked to the front door, carefully peeking through the peephole in the door. All she saw was the back of a head covered in messy black hair. Sakura frowned but opened the door, belated remembering that her pajamas, while very comfortable, were not exactly appropriate for company. Sasuke turned around and immediately flushed. He turned his head to the side, not meeting her eye. Sakura glanced down at her body. She should have put on some pants when she woke up.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," Sasuke nodded in her general direction, still not meeting her eyes. There was a long silence in which Sakura had ample time to regret not having pants. This was getting uncomfortable.

"Are you here to see Naruto?" she asked. "Because he's out."

"Not here to see him," Sasuke said. Seriously, how had he gotten into the building? Did he have a building key or something?

"Well, I'm pretty sure you're not here to see Ino, but on the off-chance that you are, she's not here either."

"I'm not here to see Ino."

"Great. Well, then by process of elimination I think it's a pretty safe guess that you're here to see me," Sakura said. Sasuke nodded an affirmative. Sakura stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do next. She didn't usually get guys coming to see her at the crack of dawn (noon). "Do you, um, do you want to come in?" Sasuke walked in and stood in the living room/dining room, looking around. "Have a seat," Sakura said. Sasuke sat on the couch and looked at her. Sakura stood uncomfortably in the threshold. "Well, um, I'm just gonna go put on some pants," she said awkwardly and dashed out of the room.

When she came back Sasuke was still sitting on the couch, elbows braced on his knees, hands laced together in front of him. Sakura sat down gingerly next to him, but on the far end of the couch. The silence stretched so far and so long that Sakura was pretty sure she was going to explode from the uncomfortable tension unless someone made a noise soon.

"Sorry about almost strangling you," Sasuke spoke at last. Sakura smothered a laugh with her hand. She didn't know why, but suddenly the whole thing was hysterically funny. She sat for a moment, hands clamped over her mouth, shoulders shaking, desperately trying not to laugh out loud. Eventually she got herself under control but had to avoid looking at Sasuke in case she started off again.

"It's ok," she said. And after a while added, "That must have been one hell of a nightmare."

* * *

"It was," Sasuke said. He looked down at his hands again. He didn't want to think about it. But he couldn't keep the poisonous memories out of his mind. The nightmare started the same as it always had. He was standing in the front hall of the house, feet bare, on a blood-saturated rug, not realizing what was happening. Then his parents living corpses had crawled across the floor at him with terrifying speed. Then his mother had clawed her way up his legs, his chest, his shoulders. In his nightmare he'd grabbed her hand, screaming at her to let him go and when she refused, he been seized by the mad urge that if he killed her a second time then maybe she would stay dead and would stop haunting his dreams. Then he had been awoke by a sharp slap across his face and found himself face-to-face with Sakura, hands clenched tightly around her throat.

He had shoved her away then, knowing that he was dangerous like this. But she hadn't run out of the room screaming. She didn't trip over herself to get away from him, calling him a freak, crazy or a monster. She'd sat on his bed and asked if he was ok. He wasn't ok. He hadn't been ok for a very long time. And right then and there, with someone he barely knew, but felt a deep connection to, he broke down for the first time in years. And Sakura had sat there with him all night, and into the dawn. She had stay there as he screamed silently against her shoulder, fists clenching against her slender back, silent, gut-wrenching sobs ripping through his body. She had stayed, holding him, all night, whispering in his ear. He didn't know what she had said, he still couldn't figure it out, but whatever it was, whether they were words of comfort or questions he couldn't answer, they had calmed him. Her presence had eased his mind.

And today he had found himself outside her apartment building, his feet having traced the path there without him even realizing it. He waited until someone left the building and then caught to door, slipping in before anyone realized that he wasn't supposed to be there. He found her apartment easily. It was the one with the welcome mat outside. And now there he was, sitting on her couch with her next to him, dragging all these memories up again. He really was a masochist, wasn't he?

"Want some coffee?" she asked, breaking into his train of thought before he had a chance to completely depress himself.

"Sure."

Sasuke watched Sakura disappear into the kitchen. The sounds of water boiling and of Sakura getting out a mug were very soothing. He had woken up this morning, after another grueling nightmare, and had come here. He felt much calmer than he usually did after a nightmare.

"How do you take it?" Sakura poked her head out of the kitchen. Her hair was messy from sleep still, despite the midday hour.

"Black," Sasuke said. A few minutes later Sakura reappeared balancing two mugs of coffee and a cereal bowl. Sasuke leapt up to help her. Sakura smiled at him.

"Thanks!" She grabbed the cereal bowl off the coffee table and dug in with gusto. Sasuke frowned. Was she just eating breakfast now? He looked at his watch. It was past noon. Who could possibly sleep that long?

Sasuke watched her eating as he drank his coffee. The normalcy of the routine, sitting, eating breakfast, drinking coffee, was pleasant. Sakura was pleasant. He watched her and remembered other things about that awful night. He remembered the warmth of her body, enveloping him in a comforting bubble. The soothing heat of her hands stroking his back, his hair. The softness of her cheek pressed against his. Her smooth thighs, trapped in between his. The gentle swell of her breasts against his chest. Her fingers, digging into his shoulders as she clutched him to her.

Sasuke choked on his coffee and started coughing. Where had _that_ come from? Sakura swooped in and set his coffee mug down, rubbing circles on his back as he coughed.

"You ok?" she asked. "You need some water or something?"

Sasuke shook his head. What he needed was something entirely different. He was fairly certain that there was no way that was happening though. He managed to get his coughing under control, his throat burning from the hot coffee. Sakura was still sitting close to him. Her palm resting gently against his back, her slender legs tucked up under her on the couch. Her head was tilted, messy hair falling in waves around her shoulders, green eyes narrowed in concern. It was less of an erotic picture than the one that had previously formed in his mind, but he found that it still made his insides heat up.

"So," he desperately fished around in his half-dazed brain looking for a topic of conversation that was safe. "Are you going to the party at the Hyuuga's?"

"Yup," Sakura nodded, scooting back on the couch again. Sasuke let out a quiet breath he had been holding. "Hinata's practically begged me to come. She can't stand being alone with her family. Can't say I blame her. Her dad is a piece of work."

"Yeah," Sasuke nodded. He figured if he said as little as possible then he could get out of this without incident.

"Like, that guy is so…strict. I mean, seriously? Your daughters are both old enough to go out without calling you every hour and texting you every time they change where they are going. He needs to relax. I mean seriously, look at Naruto. He's gotten along just fine without someone breathing down his neck every second of everyday."

Sasuke flinched. He didn't think she noticed but it was hard to tell. She had already changed the subject with lightening speed. It was getting hard for him to keep up.

"Anyway, I wonder when they're going to post final marks. I really want to know what I'm getting so I know how hard I have to work to keep my GPA up. I want to get into pre-med, so it's gonna be tough. But I think I can handle it," Sakura said. She was glowing a little bit, grinning as she started discussing her passion. Sasuke found it was hard to look away from her as she chatted on, smiling, occasionally gesturing in the air with her hands. The coffee and the cereal lay forgotten on the coffee table. Sakura shifted so that she was leaning back against an armrest, feet up on the couch. Sasuke turned too, facing her directly, listening to her talk, watching her with veiled fascination. He really had never met anyone who was quite like her before. He despised the cliché, but he couldn't deny its truth. He was more certain than he ever was before. Sakura was the girl he was falling for.

* * *

"It's Christmas!" Ino threw her hands up above her head a twirled around. Her bright red skirt flared around her legs and she almost tripped in her high-heeled boots. But it didn't matter because Kiba was right there, his hands slipping around her waist, guiding her into an elegant dip before setting her up right and spinning her into his chest. He wrapped her in his arms and pressed his face against her hair. "I love Christmas," she said into his jacket. Her fingers tugged on the back of his jacket.

"Ugh, guys, seriously?" Tenten licked her ice cream cone and glared at them. She had a bandage over the bridge of her nose and had a black eye. Ino rolled her eyes. Tenten had agreed to go Christmas present shopping with them only because she had nothing else to do. The diner she worked at was closed because it was snowed in.

"What? Don't glare and be disapproving just because you're single and lonely," Ino stuck her tongue out at her friend. Tenten blinked and stuck her ice cream on the end of Ino's tongue. "Augh! It's cold!"

"No duh," Tenten grinned. She licked her ice cream again, radiating satisfaction. Ino felt Kiba's familiar laugh rumble in his chest. She glared at him.

"Don't laugh," she said. She buried her face in his scarf. It smelled like him. She inhaled deeply.

"Sorry," Kiba grinned. "Tenten, who are you buying for?"

"No one," Tenten said. Her cheeks flushed a bit and she turned her head away, tugging her toque down further with her free hand. "I'm just bored, okay?"

"Okay," Kiba shrugged. He raised his eyebrow at Ino. Ino rolled her eyes. Ver since they had become of Tenten's situation they had been noticing a certain amount of awkward civility between Tenten and Neji. Ino could only guess what was happening in that house. But Tenten had been looking a lot less like a homeless person in recent days. Minus the various cuts, bruises and sprains. She was even wearing new clothes that fit properly and didn't make her look like she had been dumpster diving.

"Did you go shopping with Neji?" she asked. Tenten whipped her head back around, open mouthed.

"Oh my God, no! That would be beyond weird. I went with Hanabi," Tenten said. She took a vicious bite out of her waffle cone. "Why would I go shopping with Neji, pray tell?"

"Because you're living with him and probably secretly dating without telling any of us?" Ino said. Tenten made a face.

"I live in Hinata's house, technically speaking. And Neji is just a guy, who happens to be my friend also. Don't read too much into it," Tenten said. "Besides, he has awful taste in clothes, why would I let him pick out mine?"

Ino snorted. Yeah, right. If Neji and Tenten were 'just friends' she'd eat her socks. She watched Tenten wander off through the store, fidgeting with her hands, occasionally picking up scarves and putting them down. She lingered for a long time with a dark blue scarf. Ino unhooked her arm from Kiba's and went over to her.

"That's a nice colour," she said. Tenten blushed and chucked the scarf down.

"It's okay," she shrugged. Ino smiled. Tenten was so completely transparent sometimes. And from what she had heard from Hinata, Neji was almost as transparent, making sure that Tenten had everything she could possibly need. Ino thought it was kind of cute.

"It would look good on him," she said, ignoring Tenten 's spluttering. She picked up the scarf and looped it around Tenten's neck. "Buy it for him. I think he will appreciate the thought. And if you don't want to admit that you maybe, sort of, kind of like him just a little bit in a non-platonic way then you can always say it's a thank you for all the help he's given you."

"Dammit, Ino. Are you a mind reader or something?" Tenten whispered. She tugged the scarf up to cover her face. Ino grinned.

"Nope, I just know my friends," she punched Tenten on the shoulder lightly. "I think he will be even more embarrassed about this than you are. Ugh, you two are adorkable!"

"Adorkable?" Tenten asked, taking the scarf off.

"Yeah, you're so dorky and oblivious to each other that it's unbearably cute."

"Ew," Tenten looked disgusted. "Never say that to me again."

* * *

Karin was out with Itachi today. It was the day before Christmas Eve, the Eve of the Eve, and there was snow in the air. She shivered and adjusted her earmuffs. She kind of wished she had a hat or a balaclava to cover her face because her nose was cold, but she also didn't want to look like a serial killer.

"Way to leave present buying to the very last minute," she said to her cousin. He shrugged. Karin rolled her eyes. Itachi had become even more taciturn and unsociable lately, if that was even possible. "What is up with you? You're even more boring than usual."

"I'm not boring," Itachi said offhandedly. He wasn't really listening to a word she was saying.

"Yeah you are. You spend your whole life in that office and when you are home you never talk to anyone, you just hangout in your study or your room, drinking. Even more so than usual in the past few weeks. What's eating you?"

"Nothing," Itachi shook his head. Karin snorted. She believed that about as much as she believed in Santa Claus.

"Uh huh," she muttered. "Whatever. You don't want to talk about it? Fine. We'll just walk along in silence, doing your last minute shopping. Although if you wanted silence I don't know why you invited me to come with you. Because I do this thing called socializing, you know, where I talk to people."

"Karin," Itachi said, looking at her. "I-"

Whatever Itachi was going to say died in his throat. He had caught sight of something over Karin's shoulder and was staring openly. Karin raised her eyebrow at the look on his face, somewhere between hunger, remorse, and horror, and turned around.

A tall man with blue hair was leaning against the side of a shop, cell phone in hand, waiting for someone. He was bundled up against the cold, although not as well as he probably should have been for he appeared to be without gloves and his sneakers were wet.

"Who is that?" Karin asked. Itachi looked confused, on top of everything else, a look she had never seen on his face and frankly never wanted to see again. It was odd, seeing him like this because he always seemed to pulled together.

"An old friend from collage," Itachi muttered, still staring. Karin stared too. As they watched the door of the shop he was standing outside of opened and Suigetsu came tumbling out laden with packages.

"Oh my God," Karins groaned a little bit louder than she had intended to. Suigetsu heard her and looked up. He did not look pleased to see her.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" he snarled, stalking over. His companion, Itachi's collage friend relieved him of some of his packages, and seemed to be avoiding Itachi's eye.

"It's a free country, dumbass. I can shop for gifts here if I want to," Karin said scorn dripping off every syllable.

"Who could you possible have to buy gifts for? It's not like a bitch like you would have friends," Suigetsu spat. His companion looked very taken aback.

"Oi, watch it, brat," he said, bonking him over the head with a package. Karin snorted.

"You can relax, freakoid I already know that I'm going to get coal in my stocking this year. Besides, I already did my Christmas shopping. I'm helping my cousin out."

"Stop hitting me Kisame!" Suigetsu glared at the blue haired man. "Asshole." Kisame whacked him with the parcel again. "Ouch! Fuck off!"

"Any plans this year, Kisame?" Itachi asked. Karin looked at him. He was still wearing that odd look on his face. She frowned and looked at Kisame.

"No," he said. "The bar is open. I'm working, like I do every year."

Karin couldn't help but notice that he was still avoiding looking Itachi in the eye. Itachi apparently noticed this too because his whole demeanor changed quite suddenly.

"That's too bad," he said frostily. "Excuse us, but Karin and I have a few more shops to visit before the day is out."

Itachi took Karin by the arm and pulled her around and down the street before any of them had the chance to say anything else. Once they were around the corner Itachi slowed down and let go of her arm. His face was twisted into a look of pain. Karin watched him closely.

"Hey, Itachi," she said softly. "Did something happen with you and your friend?" she asked. _Do you like him?_ she wondered.

Itachi looked at her, and she could see him compartmentalizing everything that had just happened, pushing it down until she couldn't see it anymore, until he couldn't feel it anymore.

"Let's keep going, all right?" Itachi said. Karin knew he was faking though. She knew he was lying to everyone. Because that one moment when he lost hold of himself and left himself exposed to the harshness of the world had told her everything she needed to know.

* * *

**extras:**_ I can't remember if I promised that the party would be in this chapter or not, but it's not so whatever. Haha, I feel like a little bit angsty (because I am sad and lonely) so I ended it with Itachi falling apart a little bit. Which makes me sad. But don't worry. All will end well…I think. It'll probably be fine…RIGHT GUYS?!_

**Reviewers!**

**LadyMartel4000: **_enough sadness! Except in this story…because there is going to be more sadness, hopefully soon._

**Lady Miel Cacao: **_best friends…or something more…? Hmmmm…_

**wingedmercury: **_hahaha, I like how you always hope I update soon and then I crush your hope by taking a million years to update *__**sadface**__* I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! Yeah, Sasuke has some serious issues to deal with._


	8. One More Night

**disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto

**notes:** OMG THE SCHOOL YEAR IS ALMOST OVER! Yeesss! Plus, I had the most fantastic pancakes the other day. Also: _ANGST, ANGST, ANGST, ANGST, _that is what is happening in this chapter. I hope no one smiles at the end of this…but if you do, I think you may have to have a few words with yourself as to why you enjoy the pain of others…

_**Someday**_

* * *

Itachi, for the first time in years, was completely, out-of-his-mind-so-he-made-bad-decisions plastered. He had finished almost an entire bottle of the best whiskey in the house all on his own. He laughed at the thought, throwing his long body into a chair by the window of his home office. It was Christmas Eve now and Sasuke had been dragged out by his friends to go to the Hyuuga's annual 'look how rich we are' Christmas Eve party. He was, literally, all on his own this year. The irony of it all was that he had spent most of his life after his parents died trying to make sure that Sasuke wasn't all alone. Itachi lifted the mouth of the bottle to his lips and tipped it back, relishing the numbing burn of alcohol on his tongue and down his throat. It pooled in his stomach, warming him from the inside out. He let out a choked half-sob, half-sigh and the bottle slipped from his fingers to the floor, clattering against the thick carpeting. With unusually clumsy fingers, Itachi pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and blearily fumbled through his contacts until he thought he had Karin's number. He wasn't sure why he was calling his slightly mad, loud, horribly sarcastic cousin, but she seemed like the kind of person who would understand the sort of situation he was in right now. He pressed the call icon and pressed the phone to his ear, falling back into the chair. His head was spinning from the alcohol.

"_Hello?"_ Itachi could hear the sounds of music in the background, nearly drowning Karin out.

"Karin," he said, tripping over his own tongue. "I think that you are right."

"_Eh? Itachi?"_

"No, shh, just listen for a minute, okay? I am never going to be this drunk again, so pay attention. You were right the other day. I like him. And he was right too. I haven't gotten over my parents death. And Sasuke was right when he told me that he didn't need my help. Because he has all of his friends and even that pretty girl, Sakura to look after him. But what have I got? Who's looking after me?" Itachi asked. He didn't notice that his voice was cracked or that he was sounding slightly hysterical.

"_No, Itachi. This isn't Kar-"_

"What do I do when I get lonely, Karin? What do I do when I can't handle all of this anymore? People expect me to be so pulled together, but I'm not. I don't like feeling like this," Itachi dragged his hand across his face, starting to come back to himself a little. "I didn't mean to bother you at your party, Karin. I'm fine, just a little drunk. Never mind me," he said. He cut Karin off halfway through what she was saying by hanging up. Then he picked his bottle of whiskey up off the floor and finished it off in one long gulp. He pushed himself to his feet, staggering slightly, to go find another one. He left his phone on the chair he was sitting in and left the empty bottle on the floor. He was going to have to get even more drunk so that he could completely forget about his moment of alcohol-induced weakness. He also prayed that Karin was already smashed when he called her so that she wouldn't remember it either.

* * *

Kisame stared at his phone for a full minute before he realized that there was a customer at the bar trying to get his attention.

"Sorry," he said, shoving his phone back in his pocket. He made the drink distractedly, and shoved it across the bar in exchange for some cash, which he chucked in the till and locked. "Hey," he turned to his fellow bar tender, "I'm ending my shift early, okay? You can handle it right?"

"Yeah, I guess," the guy said. Kisame had never worked with him before and hadn't bothered to learn his name, but as the bar owner he had seniority and could pretty much do whatever he wanted.

"Great," Kisame grabbed his jacket from the hook on the wall and ducked out from behind the bar. He had already promised himself that he wasn't going to get his hopes up, but that phone call…drunken words were sober thoughts, right? He dug his keys out of his pocket, turning Itachi's words over in his mind as he started his car. It was starting to snow as he pulled out of the bar's parking lot and onto the streets. It was an empty night, with only a few cars passing him. Most people were already out at parties or eating dinner or back home, in bed. After all it was past two in the morning. Kisame was careful on the road, despite his preoccupation. He hated snow and he hated driving in it more. It took him longer than usual to reach Itachi's house, not that he was there very often anymore.

He jogged up to the door, blowing hot air on his fingers as he knocked loudly. He shivered, rubbing his arms through his sleeves, trying to get the blood flowing. He banged on the door again. He and Itachi had been drifting lately, culminating, finally, in the awkward, cold meeting in the shopping district a few days ago, where Itachi had looked at him with cold eyes for the first time. Kisame had seen that look in his eyes plenty of times over their long friendship, but this was the first time that it was ever directed at him. Kisame had seen Itachi with that look in his eye before he completely decimated someone else who had offended him or one of his friends or had threatened his family or company, but he had never been on the receiving end of it before. He didn't like it either. It made him feel awful, knowing that he had done something to make Itachi look like that.

"Itachi!" he shouted, banging on the door again with both hands. He heard some scraping and quiet swearing and the lock slid back. Itachi opened the door, leaning on it heavily, glaring at him. "Itachi-" he started, but Itachi cut him off.

"What do you want?" he snarled. He was not pleased to see Kisame at all, apparently.

"You-, I just-" Kisame floundered for words for a moment. He wasn't sure what he was excepting by coming here. Itachi probably remembered that he was angry with him (for reasons unknown). He was always much more lucid that the average drunk.

"I don't care," Itachi cut him off again. "Get off my doorstep."

Kisame blinked. Itachi snorted and pushed away from the door, moving to retreat back into his house and, presumably, slam the door in Kisame's face. But he staggered without the support of the door, almost falling backward. The only reason he didn't fall was because Kisame had taken two quick steps forward and caught one of his wrists, pulling him upright before he could complete his unplanned journey to the floor.

"Let go," Itachi snarled, trying to shake him off. Kisame tightened his grip on Itachi's wrist and shut the door behind him. He looked down at Itachi, right in the eye and snarled back with equal ferocity.

"No."

* * *

Karin wasn't inside partying with everyone else. She was outside, without her coat, on the Hyuuga's deck, rubbing her bare arms, her teeth chattering. She was cold, she was hungry, she wanted something else other than beer to drink, and she wished that she wasn't alone. She sighed, picked up her beer bottle and tipped over. She watched the amber liquid pour out of the neck on the bottle and splatter onto the grass at her feet.

"Jesus, it's cold."

Karin looked over her shoulder. Suigetsu was outside, shutting the balcony door behind him, jumping up and down on the spot to stay warm. He was wearing his a thick wool sweater. Karin groaned.

"Oh, damn. Not you again," she said. Suigestu turned around, glaring.

"Aw fuck," he groaned. "Is it too much to ask for some peace and quiet around here?"

"Apparently it is," Karin rolled her eyes. She dropped her head onto her knees when Suigetsu sat down next to her. "Do you mind? I kind of want to be alone," she said, lying through her teeth.

"Aren't you cold?" Suigetsu ignored her. Karin rubbed her arms. She was cold. She had been cold for the past ten minutes. If she hadn't been wearing bright red nail polish she was pretty sure her fingernail would have been blue. She had a theory though, that if she was cold enough than the empty hole that was aching inside her chest would stop hurting.

"No," she said stubbornly. Suigetsu snorted and unbuttoned his sweater. He shrugged it off and draped it around her shoulders.

"Liar," he said. He rubbed his hands together and blew on his fingers. "You miss them?"

"What?"

"Oh come," Suigetsu gave her his shark-toothed grin. "I know that face. I wear it sometimes too. You miss your parents."

"I – N – I just," Karin spluttered. The rough wool of his sweater scratched her bare shoulders. Suigetsu laughed softly and pulled the long sleeves of his shirt over his hands.

"Don't worry," he said. "I won't tell anyone." There was a long silence between them. Karin tugged the sweater closed around her torso and watched her breath crystalize in front of her eyes.

"Do you miss your mom?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," Suigetsu said after a moment. "She died right after my dad walked out on us. I spent months looking for him, thinking that if he knew what had happened that he might come back."

"Did you find him?" she asked.

"No," Suigetsu said. He shrugged like it didn't matter but Karin knew better. Because the look in his eyes was so raw, the pain there was still as strong as it had been the very first day. She knew because she was the same. She looked at herself in the mirror sometimes and had to look away because the desperate, unbridled, raw anguish there in her eyes and on her face was too much for her to bear.

"Maybe you will someday," she said. She didn't offer comfort or empathy because she didn't know how to comfort him. She didn't want him to know that she knew and understood his feelings. She pushed down the crying need to take him in her arms, stroke his hair and whisper that everything was going to be all right. Because it likely wasn't going to be all right and she had learned from a very early age that sweet nothings and comfort didn't make a person stronger, they only made them more reliant. So instead Karin stood up, shrugging the sweater off and dropped it in his lap. She cooled her voice and hardened her heart. She wiped any recognizable emotion off her face.

"Whatever," she said, ducting off her skirt. "Anyway, I'm going back inside. I need a drink. Later."

And she left him sitting out there, looking a little bit more than surprised, hurt evident on his face. She left him sitting out there, alone with his pain and suffering, and she went back inside. As the warm air seeped into her skin Karin found herself on the dance floor, body moving and twisting to the beat. She danced until her skin was slick with sweat and her feet were sore. She danced and drank until she couldn't remember where she was or what she was doing there. She drowned all her sorrows because she didn't want to think about how much she and her sorrows had in common with the white-haired, violet-eyed young man out on the balcony. Because it scared her how much she ached inside her chest when he looked sad. She was afraid to let him into her heart because she knew what would happen if she did. The people she loved always left her. And they never came back.

* * *

Kisame was sitting on the floor next to Itachi's bed. He had a bottle of water sitting next to him and an empty glass and a bottle of painkillers. Itachi metabolized alcohol at an alarmingly fast rate and would probably be awake and hung over soon. Kisame sighed and dragged his hands over his face. He pulled his long fingers through his spiked up blue hair, destroying the careful artistry. His hair fell flat, hanging limp around his face. He pushed his back and twisted to look at Itachi. His old friend was lying in bed, on his side, sleeping. He had passed out not long after Kisame arrived. Kisame had carried him up to his bedroom, tucked him in and then fetched the water and painkillers. Years of being Itachi's roommate in university had made the 'post-drinking-hangover-cure' routine second nature for both of them. Kisame resisted the urge to reach out and brush a loose strand of hair off Itachi's face. He didn't think that now was the best time to let his pent up feelings get the better of him. Itachi looked peaceful and Kisame's knees were starting to ache, so he stood up and started walking around the room. It was troublesome, sometimes, being so tall.

"Kisame?"

He froze, mid-step, and stole a quick peripheral glance at the bed. Itachi was slowly sitting up, squinting slightly.

"Why are you here?"

"You called me," Kisame said, shortly. He changed his course and walked over to the bed. He picked up the waterbottle, the empty glass and the bottle of pills and set them on the night table. He poured the water with slightly shaking hands and shook two gel pills out of the bottle. Then he handed the glass over, carefully avoiding touching his friend, and dropped the pills into his open palm. Itachi tossed the pills back and drank the water down. When he finished he set the glass on the night table again. He was panting slightly. Kisame tore his eyes away from the slightly open neck of his wrinkled button down.

"Why did I call you?" Itachi asked, sliding back in the bed so that he could lean against the headboard.

"Don't you remember?" Kisame asked, surprised. Itachi never had blackouts in university from drinking, no matter how much alcohol he consumed. But Itachi shook his head, staring at his hands.

"I was having a bad day," he said by way of an explanation. "I drank more than I usually do. I haven't had that much to drink in a while and I'm not a university student anymore. I guess I can't handle my liquor as well as I thought I could."

Kisame nodded, but didn't say anything.

"What did I call about?"

"It was a misdial. You thought I was Karin. I got worried so I came over. Good thing I did because you passed out. Probably would have caught a cold, sleeping on the floor or something."

"Oh," Itachi said. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to bother anyone. And thanks for helping me out."

"Don't sweat it. It's what friends are for, right?" Kisame said, nearly choking on the word 'friends'. He had been Itachi's 'friend' for so many years now, always pushing back his feelings, always covering up how much he wanted him because he was afraid Itachi would push him away, laugh at him, call him a freak, a fag, disgusting. So he kept his mouth shut, even though he knew Itachi would never treat his old friend in such a deplorable way. Even thought Kisame knew it, he couldn't say it, after almost five years it was still impossible for him to choke the words out.

"Yeah," Itachi looked up and met his eyes squarely. "Friends."

There was no hesitation in Itachi's voice on the word 'friends'. No falter in his gaze. Kisame saw in his dark eyes, that there was nothing more than friends. They were friends and that was all. Itachi, of course, Kisame laughed to himself, was not gay. He flirted with girls all the time. He was the head of a high-powered company. He was the oldest son of the Uchiha Empire. And Kisame was just a bartender with a useless masters degree in Fine Arts. He had been a fool to think there could possibly be anything more between them. Friends was all they could ever be.

"I should go," Kisame said. He stepped back from the bed no longer looking at Itachi. He felt his chest tightening up and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. "I left some new guy with the bar and I need to get back and close. He doesn't know how and I promised him I wouldn't leave him hanging." He lied through his teeth as he grabbed his coat off the back of a chair and bolted form the house.

Kisame drove all the way back to the bar, ignoring every rule of the road in the process. His amazement at not getting caught was muted by the numbness that seemed to be seeping into his very core. He sat in the parking lot for a long time, even after the bar was closed, with his hands on the wheel, watching his breath become white fog before his eyes. He could feel a stinging sensation in the backs of his eyes and knew he was going to cry. So he fumbled around in his glove box for the black knit toque he always kept there in case of a bad hair day or a sudden snowstorm, and pulled it on. He yanked the soft polyester over his eyes and tilted his head back into the headrest. The hot tears leaked out of his eyes and soaked into the toque. He cried out in frustration and pain and slammed his hands against the steering wheel until his palms ached and he slumped over the wheel, gasping sobs finally overtaking his composure. By the time he was out of energy to cry anymore the glowing clock on the dash read five am. He was exhausted and his whole body ached like he had the flu. He pushed the toque into a more comfortable position and started his car. He drove slowly, in a daze, through the deserted streets and finally pulled up into his apartment building's parking lot. He drove up to the top floor of the lot and parked in a corner spot. He got out of the car and sat on the hood, watching the dark sky fade from black to grey to orange to light blue. The sun appeared on the horizon blotting out the stars and burning off the clouds. The hood was cold underneath him now. It was Christmas morning and kids all over the city would be waking up to presents. It was Christmas morning and lovers were waking up to one another, or just going to sleep. Kisame gave the brightening sky a terrifying, horrible grin.

"Merry fucking Christmas," he said to himself. Because there was no one there to say it to him.

* * *

**extras: **_that's the chapter! I just recently finished reading Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare and I am in such an angsty mood. You have no idea. I was actually so emotionally drained and heartbroken/repaired by the end of it that I couldn't even sleep._

_Also, I AM IN SUCH A RAGE ABOUT STUBENVILLE. LIKE SERIOUSLY? THE FUCK GUYS? Ugh, sometimes I just fucking hate people. Screw all those assholes who say that the girl who GOT RAPED is at fault. Just, fuck._

* * *

**REVIEWS!**

**InFieryPeace: **_I'm sorry, but this Christmas is going to be pretty sad. Expect for like…three or four people. I WILL GIVE YOU SOME HAPPINESS, I SWEAR! But in the meantime…I wrote this. I LOVE THAT YOU REVIEWED WITH NICE THINGS TO SAY TO ME!_

**Lady Miel Cacao: **_we are for sure that it is something more know, eh ;) and THANK YOU for reviewing __**every**__ chapter! You make me SMILE!_


	9. Don't Fail Me Now

**disclaimer:** I don't own the Naruto characters, or the slightly adapted backstories…

**notes:** DONE MY EXAMES BITCHES! I seriously need to find another job. NEEDS THE MONEHS. Also, I have a Tumblr now. I don't really do much of the fanfictioning on there but I have posts and stuff. I will also follow back if you follow me! So if you want a free follower hit me up! **iseesavage **_dot tumblr dot com _(would seriously adore a follow or two. And also, if anyone knows some good Sherlock, Doctor Who and Supernatural blogs let me know. TVD blogs too, because I need some new fandom stuff on my dash)

_**Someday**_

* * *

Hinata couldn't catch her breath. She had been running around since the party began cleaning up small messes people made, following Hanabi to make sure she didn't do anything embarrassing and then dragging a drunk Karin off the dance floor before she threw up all over someone else's perfectly shined shoes. She was crouched in the dark hallway now, the throbbing beat of the music seeping through the walls, next to Karin, who was curled up on the hardwood floor.

"You really need to get a hold of yourself," she said. Karin grunted in response. Hinata sighed and reached over to stroke her friend's hair. "I don't know why you're acting like this but whatever it is, if you want someone to talk to, or just sit with for a while, you know you can call me, right?"

"Okay," Hinata said after a bit of a silence. "Why don't we get you into my bedroom. It's quiet there and I think that's exactly what you need right now. So up we get," Hinata pulled Karin up off the floor and started leading her down the dark hall. She managed to get Karin's shoes off and get her friend under the blankets and smoothed her hair back gently one more time. "Don't worry," she said softly. "You're going to be okay. Just remember that I'm always there to talk to if you need it. Try and go to sleep in here. You'll feel better tomorrow, I promise."

Hinata switched off the light and quietly closed the door behind her. She turned and started to walk back down the hall when something made her pause and look behind her. Her father was standing there, arms crossed, habitual frown on his face.

"Father," she said quietly. She bowed her head forward slightly. He didn't move. "Was there something you needed?" she asked. She didn't look up to meet his eyes and instead kept her gaze fixed on the toes of her high-heeled shoes.

"That girl is a disgrace. Her public behaviour is unacceptable and associating with her only puts a stain on our family image. You will cease having any contact with her in the future and you will not bring her here anymore," he said tersely. "You are the heir to an empire, Hinata. Do not let badly mannered people and morons with puppy dog eyes drag you down. You must rise above it all and carry on the dream of your mother."

Hinata wanted to raise her eyes, to hold her head high and tell her father that he couldn't use her mother's death to guilt her into following the path that he had laid out for her. She wanted to raise her voice and declare that she would not be following her mother's footsteps into a world of unhappiness and cruelty. She wanted to stand her ground and defend her friends and the young man she was falling in love with.

But she didn't.

She just stood there, eyes downcast, silent, as her father brushed past her. Hinata had to blink tears out of her eyes. She was just as worthless as she always had been. It was exactly as her mother's final letter had said. Hanabi was the golden child who could do no wrong, even when she did. Hinata was the mouse who would never roar. She could smile and cover up and take care of other people's pain as much as she wanted too but it would never make her a stronger person. It would never make her better. She would never measure up to the expectations placed on her shoulder. The Reluctant Heiress. The Timid Inheritor. The Quiet First Born. The Rabbit. The Mouse. That was all she would ever be and everyday since the untimely death of her mother she had never been allowed to forget it. She was the reason their whole family was on the precipice of ruin. She was the reason Hanabi was uncontrollable, Neji was so closed off and her father was so angry all the time. She was the reason that everything had gone horribly wrong. And all because she had raised her voice once. All because she had spoken up, voice her true thoughts and stood up for herself she had brought catastrophe down on them. She was very careful now. She would never speak up again.

* * *

Naruto was silent behind the bathroom door. He had already flipped the light off and had been about to swing the door open and step out into the hallway but something stopped him. So he stood, ear pressed against the door as Hinata stood silently in the hallway and let her father say awful things to her. Naruto clenched his fists as his sides, fighting the urge to burst through the door and give the old man what for. He heard Hinata's dad finally walk away and leaned back against the door, pressing his palms flat against the cool wood. He closed his eyes when he heard a few chocked sobs and then the sound or Hinata's high heels carrying her away as fast as possible. Naruto eased the door open and glanced around. The hallway was deserted. He wanted to find Hinata and hold her and convince her that nothing had happened to make her upset, but he honestly didn't know what he would say if he found her.

"Why are you just standing there like an idiot?" Ino slurred. She was leaning on the wall behind him looking more than a little drunk. Naruto sighed.

"Just thinking. How much have you had to drink?" he asked. Ino pushed off the wall, grinning.

"More than you, ya pussy," she crowed. Then she proceeded to trip over her own feet. Naruto caught her before she could face plant into the floor and slung her arm over his shoulder. He briefly made a mental note to punch Kiba in the face for leaving Ino this drunk on her own and started pulling her to the front of the house.

"Wait here," he said, sitting her down gently on a small bench. "I'm gonna find Sakura and tell her I'm taking you home. I'll be right back. Don't move."

Naruto didn't feel very confident that Ino was going to listen to his instructions so he picked up the pace once he reached the main room. He could barely make Sakura out through the crowd, but she was on the dance floor, arms in the air, eyes closed, head thrown back, swaying gently with the beat of the Waltz that some old party pooper had no doubt decided to put on. Naruto lunged across the dance floor and grabbed Sakura's hand.

"Hey," he said. "I'm gonna take Ino home. She's really wasted…and so are you by the looks of it. Am I the only one who decided not to get drunk tonight?" he asked. Sakura giggled and looped her arms around his neck. She blinked up at him with big green eyes, pupils dilated.

"You're my best buddy," she said seriously. "My bestest best buddy of all. You know that right?"

"Yeah," Naruto nodded. He smiled slightly. "I know. Now come on. Ino is waiting for up to go home."

"Waaaittt," Sakura whined. "I promised Sasuke I'd sleep with him."

"What?" Naruto froze halfway off the dance floor and stared at her. Sasuke was his best friend and Sakura was his other best friend. Had he thought about maybe setting them up together? Yeah, loads of times. But in his head none of the scenarios had included alcohol and short skirts and drunken promises. In fact there had been no talk of sex in his little match making scenarios at all. Sakura, even in her drunken haze, seemed to have noticed the look of abject horror on his face because she cackled and hit him on the forehead with the palm of her hand.

"Not like that stupid. Ew! Get your brain out of the dirty pants gutter! I promised him we'd sleep in the same bed in case the nightmares came back. He doesn't like the nightmares, dummy."

"Nightmares?" Naruto repeated blankly. He was only half processing what she was saying because he was also scanning the room for Sasuke.

"Hey man," Kiba suddenly appeared at his shoulder. Naruto jumped slightly. "Have you seen Ino? She kind of wandered off and I can't find her. I think she might have had an argument with someone on the phone and then she disappeared with a bottle of Jack."

"She's by the front door. I'm taking her home," Naruto said vaguely. "Keep an eye on her for me will you? I told her not to wander off but it's drunk Ino so you never really know. And where the hell is that Teme bastard?"

"Sasuke?" Kiba peered around the room. "He's over there with Suigetsu."

"Perfect," Naruto muttered. He grabbed Sakura's arm and pulled her across the room to where Sasuke was. "Let's go Teme," he said gruffly. Sasuke blinked at him.

"What?" he asked blearily. Oh God. Naruto groaned. This bastard was drunk too?

"I'm taking Sakura home and she wants you to come with us. So get your shit and let's go," he said sternly. "Ino and Kiba are waiting for us by the door."

"Oh," was all Sasuke could manage in his blasted state of mind. Naruto groaned aloud this time. He hauled Sakura and Sasuke across the house to the front door and sagged back against the wall. He was suddenly very tired and couldn't be bothered to help the drunkards sort out their coats and gloves and scarves. He sighed deeply and rubbed his eyes. When he raised his head again Hinata was there quietly helping Ino on with her coat, bundling her up tightly.

"Hey," Naruto said. Hinata looked at him and smiled. Her eyes were a little red looking and her mascara was smudged a bit. Naruto felt his heart leap and his stomach wrench at the same time. It was an odd feeling, like he was being ripped apart by warring feelings of happiness and outraged sadness. "I'm sorry we're cutting out so early, but these guys are really plastered and I don't really trust them out in public anymore."

"No," Hinata shook her head. "I understand." Naruto smiled at her. Seeing Hinata was just something that made him happy for no reason. "Karin is crashing here for the night and I think Suigetsu is going to borrow the pullout couch in the basement," Hinata was saying. "So there's no need to worry about those two."

"I think we all worry about those two," Naruto said. He paused, suddenly realizing how exhausted and jaded he sounded. He didn't like sounding like that. It made him feel old and uninspired.

"Well," Hinata stepped back from bundling Ino up. "That's that then. Drive safe, okay?"

"Yeah, I will. Thanks for helping out," Naruto smiled at her again. He wanted to lean in and give her a quick little kiss but he couldn't seem to pull the courage up. "Hey, Hinata?" he said just before she closed the door on him. "Would you mind – I mean, if it's not too late, could I call you when I get home?"

"Oh!" Hinata opened the door wider, looking surprised. "Of course you can," she smiled softly, like she always did and Naruto felt his heart swell a little. "Right," he grinned back. "Great. I'll call you then. Bye." The swelling feeling his heart didn't go away as he loaded up the car. It was a happy feeling, but somewhere, deep down inside, it was a little bit sad as well. He wondered why.

* * *

Tenten was gripping the package tightly between both hands. It was a good thing she had forgone a box because it would have been absolutely, utterly crushed to a pulp by now. She had never been this nervous giving a gift before in her life. It didn't' really help that Neji was staring at her like she was a mad person. Of course, she couldn't really blame him because she had sort of just grabbed him and yanked him into an empty, dark room without any explanation whatsoever.

"Is there something wrong?" Neji asked, frowning.

"Shhhh!" Tenten threw up a hand, stopping him from speaking. She needed silence to steel herself for this. When he tried to interrupt again she shot him a glare. He fell silent and just stared at her, which wasn't helping much either. Her hands, gripping the package, were shaking. It was now or never. Tenten thrust the package toward Neji with both hands, resolutely avoiding his eyes. The floor was really, very interesting.

"What is this?" Neji asked, taking the package from her. Tenten didn't say anything. Neji stared at her for a second longer and then slowly tore the package open along the line of tape. He tossed the wrapping paper away and unraveled the scarf that Tenten had agonized about buying. "Is this a present?" he asked. He sounded a little suspicious and a little surprised.

"No!" Tenten snapped. Neji frowned. "It's a thank you."

"A thank you for what?" Neji asked, still standing in front of Tenten, frowning slightly, holding the scarf in one hand.

"For helping me out," Tenten mumbled. She felt herself going red and turned away. She laced her fingers together in front of her and stared at her hands.

"You know you could have just said 'thank you' and everything would have been fine. You didn't have to get me anything." Neji said. Tenten ground her teeth together. Why couldn't he just take the damn scarf?

"Shut up and take the scarf, Neji!" Tenten snarled. To her surprised Neji smirked and looped the scarf around his neck. They stood there for a moment longer, staring at each other until Neji finally broke the bizarre stalemate staring contest and crossed the room to the door.

"Thanks for the scarf," he said as he walked past her. Tenten bit the inside of her cheek as she heard the door close behind her. She had a sort of dizzy feeling in the pit of her stomach. It was weird. She must be catching a cold, she decided, or starting her period. Because when she heard the door close softly behind her she suddenly felt like crying and she didn't know why.

* * *

Sakura was sobering up by the time they reached the apartment. Ino and Kiba and Sasuke were jammed into the back seat together, and she was up front with Naruto. He was glancing into the review mirror every so often, checking up on the slightly rowdy group in the back. Sakura pressed her face against the cold glass of the window and stared at the snow-covered ground outside. She was glad that one of them had remained sober for the party because she wasn't sure how they would have gotten home otherwise. She watched her breath fog up the cold glass as they drove along in relative silence. She was very tired coming down from her high and felt her eyes drooping. Before she knew it she was being shaken awake by Naruto. Ino was calling out to him to hurry up. Sakura got up of the car and pulled her coat sleeves down over her wrists. It was cold. The December air seemed to have sobered up the others as well because they were shifting from foot to foot, rubbing their hands together, waiting for Naruto impatiently. Sakura walked slowly over the icy pavement to make sure she didn't slip and break her head open. The group of five made their way down the sidewalk and rounded to corner of the archway that covered the main entrance of the apartment building. Sakura looked up from the sidewalk and stared at a middle-aged couple who were examining the list of tenants. The woman was holding a little boy in her arms. He was asleep, resting his head on her shoulder. Sakura smiled slightly at the sight before she started to look away.

"That's her!"

Sakura glanced back over her shoulder and stopped walking. The woman and her husband were staring at Sakura with odd expressions on their faces. They were looks of recognition and disbelief. Sakura stared back. The woman had short, wavy red hair and warm brown eyes. The man had blonde hair and bright green eyes. The little boy sleeping in the woman's arms had red hair like his mother. An odd chill went up her spine as she finally located old, faded memories and placed the faces that were so like her own.

"Oh my God," Ino breathed. Sakura couldn't do anything except stand there staring at them. There was something, a tension, stretching between them. The woman handed her sleeping son off to her husband and stepped toward Sakura, reaching out to her. They were almost an arms length apart when Sakura suddenly regained control of her body and quickly sidestepped her. The sound of her high heels clacking against the pavement echoed.

"Sakura?" The woman turned and looked at her, frowning in confusion.

"Don't touch me," Sakura said. Her whole body felt cold in spite of the thick wool coat and scarf she was wearing.

"What's going on?" Kiba whispered to Ino. Ino replied but didn't bother to keep her voice down.

"Not too much. Sakura parents apparently decided to come back after abandoning her thirteen years ago without so much as a good bye or an explanation. I'm Ino, by the way. I'm one of Sakura's best friends. Not that you would know anything about me since you haven't seen you daughter in thirteen long years."

"Sakura," her mother said again. "Sakura it's me. I'm you mother! You could at least say hello!"

"Sakura, we are you parents," he father said. "We raised you. Just invite us inside."

Sakura let out a short, harsh laugh. "Raised me? My parents? You know who raised me? Aunty Tsunade raised me. Uncle Jiraiya raised me. Ino's dad raised me. I raised my self, for God's sake. The only thing you eve did for me was teach me how to leave without saying goodbye."

"Sakura, really!" her mother gasped. Naruto cleared his throat. Sakura's mother looked back at him and her eyes widened. "Is that Naruto?" she asked. "You've grown up into a handsome young man!"

"Thanks," Naruto said. He didn't smile and his tone was uncharacteristically cold. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, we've been out all night and we want to get some sleep before we meet up with some friends tomorrow for Christmas brunch. You two should probably get your son back to your hotel. He'll catch a cold sleeping out here."

"Hotel?" Sakura's mother asked. She looked confused and for a second Sakura thought maybe this was all some sort of sick joke. "What hotel?"

Sakura snorted and spun on her heel. She wasn't going to stand there and watch her mother and father, two people who were total strangers, try and worm their way into her home for the night. She felt bad for the kid, but her sympathy for her unknown family ended there. The bitingly cold air stung her cheeks as she strode away. She could feel the ice under her feet and she stumbled a little bit. A warm hand caught her elbow and pulled her upright. Sakura looked up and saw Sasuke at her side. He glanced down at her, expression unreadable, as he steadied her on the sidewalk. Sakura was surprised that he had bothered to chase after her, but she didn't say anything and kept walking. If he wanted to follow her he could.

* * *

They walked in silence for a while, side by side. The backs of their hands brushed occasionally. Sasuke looked at her out of the corner of his eye and noticed that her eyes were brighter than usual. She was biting her bottom lip, blinking too often. She was trying not to cry.

Sasuke debated with himself for a moment in his head. Should he do something to comfort her? Or should he let her keep face, strong and silent? He thought about it as they walked and remembered how much he hated being alone in his suffering. When he had finally closed himself off from Itachi and Itachi had closed himself off from everything, Sasuke had felt lonely for the first time in his life and he hated it. He looked at Sakura again in time to catch her quickly wiping a stray tear off her cheek. He didn't even think then, about what he was doing. He just reached over and grabbed her hand, twining his fingers through hers. She looked at him in surprise and stopped walking.

"Sasuke?" she said softly. Sasuke looked back and blinked at her, glad that he had turned his coat collar up so that she couldn't really see his blush.

"Let's go to my house. It's not that far. Besides, I don't really want to sleep alone tonight."

Sakura did not have the benefit of a coat collar to hide her face in. Sasuke smirked as she ducked her head, unsuccessfully trying to hide her own flushed face.

"I don't want to sleep alone either," she whispered.

* * *

Kiba watched Sakura walk away feeling a little more than confused. The complete strangers standing in front of him made him angry though. He knew Sakura and he liked her. She was a funny, smart girl with sass and courage and she was Ino's best friend and he was just angry that someone had put that look on her face. Because the look on her face when she realized these people were her parents was awful. She looked like the world was being torn in two. The pain there, in her eyes, it hurt him to see it. He couldn't imagine how Naruto and Ino felt. He looked at Ino and saw unadulterated rage there. He looked at Naruto and saw only cold fury. These strangers who were Sakura parents were truly hated.

"We don't have a hotel," Sakura's mother said. "Where is my daughter going?"

"You don't have any right to call her your daughter anymore," Naruto said coldly. Kiba shivered. This version of Naruto, the protective, intimidating, unpredictable, angry version, it didn't make itself known often but when it did Kiba always tried to make himself scarce. "You lost that right when you walked out on her without any explanation thirteen years ago. Sakura isn't five anymore. She's eighteen and perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She doesn't need you back in her life reminding her why the hell she had to grow up do fast in the first place."

"There's a Motel 5 over on First and Main," Ino put in frostily. She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "You can drive there. It's far enough away that we won't have to see you." She crossed her arms and tapped her toe, glaring at them. Naruto's facial expression didn't change at all. He just stood there, fists clenched at his sides, eyes hard. The subject was clearly closed and Kiba looked at them too, waiting for them to walk away.

"We just wanted Sakura to meet her little brother and to be a part of his life," Sakura's father said weakly. "We thought she would be happy to have a brother."

"Obviously she wasn't," Kiba surprised himself when he spoke up. "You left Sakura when she was five. She must have grown up thinking that her parents didn't want her. How do you think she feels now that she sees you back here with a kid the same age she was when you left?"

"Get off this property," Ino snarled, "Or I'm calling security."

Kiba watched Sakura parents turn their backs and walk away, looking defeated. He was eve more confused than ever. How could those people think that Sakura would just forgive them and welcome them back into her life? They had left her to grow up without a proper family and now they want her to suddenly be part of one. He watched them get into their car, wondering what they were expecting to happen. He wondered if he knew how much they were despised for what they did.

"Do you guys mind crashing somewhere else tonight?" Naruto broke the silence. Ino looked at him, frowning.

"You okay?" she asked. "I didn't realize until just now, but you knew them too right? Must be hard on you as well."

"Yeah," Naruto shrugged. He didn't look angry anymore. He just looked tired and deflated, like a sad balloon, left outside for too long after the party finished. "I just kind of want some quiet alone time tonight, especially after this."

"No worries, dude," Kiba said. "Ino can crash at my place. My sister's room is empty. She can sleep in there."

Kiba didn't blame Naruto for wanting to be alone after that. He had watched so many people suffer throughout his life: his mother, his sister, Sasuke, Suigetsu, Naruto, Sakura, Itachi, Neji. He watched all of this, knowing that they saw his suffering too, and knowing that the only thing he could do was be there for them when they wanted someone to get wasted with so that they could block out the world. And sometimes, when they were blackout drunk and he was too tired to be anything but sober, he would take care of them because there was no one else to do it anymore.

"You have someone to call if you need to right?" he asked. Naruto nodded and pulled out his key. He unlocked the main door and went inside and pressed the elevator call button. Kiba put his arm around Ino's shoulders.

"Come on," he said. "He'll be fine. Let's get you back to my place where it's warm and dry. I'll make you some tea and set you up in my sister's old room for the night."

"Thanks," Ino said. She put her arm around his middle and rested her head against his shoulder. "You know, " she said. "You're a really good guy."

* * *

Naruto stepped into the elevator and leant against the wall as the doors slid closed. He jabbed the third floor button with his index finger and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. There was only one number he wanted to dial right now, only one voice he wanted to hear say his name. He pressed 'call' and put the phone to his ear, listening to the dull ringing. The hand not holding the phone was shaking.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, Hinata. It's me, Naruto. Do you have time to talk?"

"_Of course. I always have time to talk to you."_

"You have no idea how happy that makes me, hearing you say that."

"_What's the matter? You sound…sad."_

"Nothing. Tonight's just really be shit, that's all."

"_Tell me about it."_ Hinata said. So he did.

* * *

_extras:_ that end bit with Naruto and Hinata was short, but I kinda like it. Because he's all like "OMG I LOVE THAT YOU'RE HAPPY TO TALK TO ME" and even though you don't read it you know Hinata is bright red and close to freaking out because she loves him so! ANYWAY, I hope this satisfied the need for expansion on the other couples. Tenten and Neji was my favourite to write because she was just so awkward with the gift and I like that about her. She is so bad at feelings LOL!

Tumbler: iseesavage dot tumblr dot com

* * *

**LE REVIEWS:**

**LadyMartel4000:** _I feel like this chapter is also very sad (and lon awaited). But it will be a bit sad for a while because life is a bit sad sometimes. I WILL TRY TO ADD HAPY BITS HERE AND THERE! Probably in the form of NaruHina fluff because they are just adorbs. LOVE YA!_

**Lady Miel Cacao: **_THANK YOU! You have no idea how happy it makes me that you felt the feels of my character portrayal! LIKE THIS IS MY DREAM TO MAKE PEOPLE HAVE FEELS! *hearts* Hope you like this one too!_

**sakulover: **_AWWWE! Fanks : ) I appreciate the love! I'm trying to make Karina and Suigetsu's relationship move slower because I want it to be realistic. And IDK how Itachi and Kisame are gonna end up yet…but I like them mas a couple too! Hope the SasuSaku and NaruHina in this chapter was what you were looking for! I did a lot from Naruto's POV because I don't usually write that but I felt like he needed to have a little bit more stage time. _


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